Operation Gamma
by Crafty Lefty
Summary: In the dark, seedy city of Bayeux, the underground black market is bigger than possibly imagined, and Star Fox is hired to take down the whole thing with the unlikeliest of allies. But wherever there's this much money, there's also usually blood.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a rework of my previous Operation Gamma story. Essentially it's the same, but I've changed a few things around, particularly the setting. I've realized while writing OG that adding humanity into the mix is a huge taboo and really difficult to pull off, so I stopped it. New setting, same basic plot, continuing where I left off. Enjoy.**

**~CL**

**

* * *

**

Fox was bored. Really freaking bored. Things were getting tedious aboard the Great Fox with the lack of jobs as of late. It wasn't that he wanted to be lazy, but there was simply nothing for them to do. The ship was suffering from it was well. Things were breaking and the team just didn't have the money to repair it. Luckily, the Arwings were still in good shape, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to take on new jobs.

He was sitting on the bridge with Falco while he was going through the digital version of the Cornerian newspaper. Falco was on one of the other computer terminals just messing around on the internet and generally being unproductive. Not that Fox could blame him, there was really nothing to do other than train, which was becoming old very fast.

Suddenly, Fox was spurred from his thoughts when the door to the bridge opened and Peppy walked in. He had just as few things to do as they did, which turned out to be zero.

The older hare said, "You guys want to head to Corneria City for a bit? Floating here in space is just too tedious for me. Maybe some ground time will cheer us up a bit."

Fox replied without even looking away from his paper. "Honestly, I couldn't care less. Go ahead. It's not like we'll be turning away jobs or anything."

Peppy nodded and went to a third computer terminal to set the ship's coordinates. Right after he sat down and before he even managed to log on, the ship's com system began ringing indicating an incoming call. Fox turned around in instant surprise and excitement to answer it.

Falco said, "I swear to god if this isn't someone offering a job I am going to just scream."

Before the machine could even ring a second time, Fox answered it. The hologram projector in the center of the bridge flickered on revealing a figure that no one was able to quite recognize. But nonetheless, Fox began speaking in the hopes that this could lead to a job.

"Captain Fox McCloud of the Star Fox team. What can I do for you?"

The man on the hologram appeared quite stern, standing tall with his hands locked behind his back. He was dressed in professional attire giving an air of nobility to him. He was a black wolf whose fur had begun to fade to gray from age. He had dark eyes that matched the stern look on his face. The figure nodded before speaking. "Greetings. My name is Creswell. Don't ask me my first name because I won't tell you and don't ask me my last name because I won't tell you that either. Creswell is just my cover name?"

Fox was a bit confused with his greeting. "Umm…alright then Creswell. I can't say I've met you before though. Who are you exactly?"

Creswell nodded before speaking again. "I come from a planetary system not exactly close to yours called the Spanier Galaxy. I live on a planet called Stygia.

Fox said, "So you're not in the Lylat system then. I don't think I've even heard of that galaxy before."

"Understandable. Our systems were totally unknown to each other until only just a few years ago. But the reason I'm calling is to invite you to Stygia for business purposes."

The entire crew heaved a sigh of relief. They were finally getting a job and would be able to do some repairs on the Great Fox. But what type of money and job they would be doing was the next question.

"Ok," said Fox. "Exactly what type of job do you have for us?"

"To be honest, I can't say," said Creswell. "I prefer not to talk about missions unless it's in person. There's always a likelihood that the transmission could be intercepted by the exact person I do not want to do so."

"Well, I promise you the transmission is secure on this end. Our com system is working fine and would alert us if someone was trying to hack into the call."

"All well and good, but our communication technologies here on our planet are not exactly up to speed with yours. Someone else could be listening to me right now and I'd have no idea."

Fox wasn't quite sure what to say. He really didn't want to head out to another star system for a mission he knew nothing about. That was really unsafe and quite foolish. But quite frankly, they needed this job. He just wanted to be careful.

Fox said, "Ok, I understand. But you can't expect me to be willing to come visit you because I just trust you. I've never met you. How do I know you're not trying to set a trap for us?"

"Because people usually don't give money to the ones they want to trap."

"Ok, but how can I be sure you're going to pay us? Again, I can't trust you just yet."

"I already did."

Fox raised an eyebrow. "Beg pardon?"

"Check your ship's account. I knew you wouldn't come out here without incentive, so I went ahead and deposited money into your account already. Call it half now, half later. But I can assure you the second portion will be much larger than the first, should you take the job."

Fox turned his head slightly to look at Peppy. He was already typing away on the computer he was at. After a few moments, he turned around and nodded to Fox. The guy wasn't lying. That money was theirs now and Creswell couldn't take it back even if he wanted to.

"Ok. We'll take the job. But don't expect us to come unarmed. If this business has taught me anything, it's to trust no one."

Creswell nodded. "I understand fully. I'm sending the coordinates to you as we speak. Just arrive at the indicated place three days from now at noon. We'll talk business from there. If anyone asks, just tell them you're working with Creswell."

"Ok. We'll call you if there are any problems."

"Good to hear. One last thing. We only want you, Falco, and Krystal to come to the surface for this mission. I assure you the rest of your team will be more helpful remaining on your ship than they will be there with you."

Fox was a bit suspicious. How did this guy know the intricacies of his team like that? He could only speculate, so he said, "Ok. That shouldn't be a problem."

Creswell said, "Oh, and we're also hiring a second team to be working with you. The both of you will be expected to work together, but your pay won't be affected. We feel as though this job requires more personnel than usual. Is that acceptable?"

"Yeah, that's not a problem so long as they know what they're doing."

"I can assure you that they do."

Fox replied, "Ok then, that's just fine with me."

"Good. I look forward to working with you. Creswell out."

And with that, the hologram disappeared and the call was ended.

Fox turned to Peppy and said, "Did you get the coordinates?"

The hare replied, "Already set them. It'll take about two days in hyperspace to get there. We'll make it in time."

"Ok. And what about they money he sent? Was it legit?"

Peppy's eyes widened a bit as he nodded. "Oh yeah. 50 thousand credits worth of legit."

Fox was a surprised to hear that. "Are you serious? Hey gave us that before we even agreed to anything?"

Peppy replied, "Apparently. I guess he really needs us to take this job. I mean, what he just gave us should be enough to get The Great Fox fixed up, let alone what he'll pay us later."

Falco chimed in, "Fox, are you sure we can trust this guy? We have no idea who the hell he is and we also have no idea what we're getting into."

The captain replied, "That's why I told him we'd be packing heat. He said they were less technologically advanced than we were, and I'm going to go do some research to make sure he's right. If it's true, we'll be able to wipe out anything they can throw at us with our Arwings. Besides, if you have a better idea that'll pay the bills around here, I'm all ears."

Falco was silent. Fox was right. They needed the money badly. They would just have to go in cautiously and hope that this guy could be trusted.

Fox rose from his chair. "I'm going to go tell Krystal and Slippy what's up. I'll see ya later."

Fox exited the bridge to find the rest of his team, leaving just Peppy and Falco on the bridge. Peppy turned around to his computer and opened up the com channel to the Hyperspace Coordination Center to gain approval for warp travel to their coordinates. Falco just turned around to his computer and continued being unproductive. At least they would finally be able to get some money to fix up their ship. The only question was what would they have to do to earn the check?


	2. Chapter 2

Fox was abruptly jolted from his sleep when the hyperdrive engines of the ship gave out. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he rolled over to the other side of his bed where the window was. He looked at the planet before him that they were now beginning to orbit. He had barely even heard of it before and had only seen the pictures after the team was contacted by Creswell. The massive bodies of water gave way to several distinct landmasses and layers of clouds could be seen covering certain parts of the sky. This was Stygia. Fox broke his gaze on the planet and left his bed to prepare for the day.

On the bridge, Peppy was contacting the orbit control station on Stygia to establish their presence. When asked about their clearance, he gave them the name Creswell, as he knew nothing else to call him by. The young woman on the other end of the com line didn't even seem to bother checking if the clearance was legitimate, and warmly greeted them to planet Stygia.

After thanking her, Peppy cut the com line and headed to the kitchen to begin preparing breakfast. From the sternness of Creswell's communication the other day, he could tell that this mission was somewhat serious. It would probably be more than a quick one-day escort or recovery.

As the doors to the kitchen automatically opened in front of him, he was a bit startled to see Fox already sitting at a table with a mug of coffee in his hands.

"Why up so early?" inquired the older hare.

Fox looked up from his mug. "Engines woke me up. Never manage to sleep through those things for some reason."

Peppy made his way to sit down at the table and replied, "Well at least I won't be quite as bored this morning. I'm usually awake for around 3 or 4 hours before any of the rest of you wake up."

Fox laughed softly. "Yeah, well something about rising before the sun just never really appealed to me."

Peppy smiled. "Well, the older you get, the harder it is not to. Just another reason I'm waiting to retire. At least then I won't be by myself at the crack of dawn."

Fox replied, "You're not going anywhere for a while. We'd all kill each other with you gone and you know it."

Peppy laughed. "Yeah, I know. Someone has to keep you brats in line."

Fox scoffed, "Oh, come on. I'm not that bad."

"Not by yourself, no. Throw Falco in the mix, and it's a whole different story," said Peppy while beginning to laugh.

Fox just laughed as well, knowing that arguing the point was pretty useless. "So what kind of people do you think we're going to be working with? That Creswell guy was pretty vague when we talked to him that day."

"I really have no idea," Peppy said while getting up and beginning to prepare some eggs. "I guess we'll find out later today though."

"Yeah, but I'm not really that worried about it. He said they were competent enough to not be a burden and we're getting paid the same either way. As long as we get along it doesn't matter to me."

Peppy nodded signifying his agreement while he cooked. The two continued to talk about what may be to come. Neither had ever been to this planet and had barely even heard of it. They had been given the coordinates to land later that day, but still had no idea what type of environment they would be flying in to. They could only assume that Creswell could be trusted. After all, he had given them quite a bit of money before they even agreed to anything. With Andross defeated and all of his forces disbanded, they really couldn't think of anyone who would go this far out of their way to start a conflict with them.

* * *

Later that morning, Falco joined the rest of the team in the kitchen after being woken up by Peppy over the intercom. They were all seated at the table going about their business when the pilot walked in.

He still looked half asleep when he walked in but still managed to say, "Why the hell did you wake me up?"

Peppy just looked at him with an agitated glance and said, "Because you have to head down to the surface in an hour and a half. And your breakfast is already colder than space."

Falco looked at the plate of eggs and sausage on the counter and picked it up. He groggily stewed the eggs around with his finger before picking up the sausages. He dropped them back to the plate with a loud clunking noise as they struck the dish. Falco set the plate back down and then reached in the freezer pulling out a box of frozen waffles. He tossed two of them in the toaster before sleepily walking back out of the room.

Peppy shook his head. "I'm not even sure why I bother."

Slippy looked up from his food at the hare. "He's never been a morning person. Do you really expect that to change?"

"Not really, but I figured on the day of a mission he would at least wake himself up in time to be ready."

Krystal put down her crossword puzzle to say, "Are you serious? It's Falco."

That was all that the vixen had to say. It was collectively understood that he could never be trusted to wake up in time for anything unassisted. The team was just grateful that he actually managed to wake up with reasonable time to spare. This was their first time ever being on the planet and didn't want to make a bad impression on anybody by being late.

They all continued to talk and go about their morning routines while wondering what the day might have in store.

* * *

About half an hour before they were expected to meet Creswell, the team gathered in the docking bay preparing to depart. Fox stood by his Arwing talking to Peppy.

"Don't forget to call us after the briefing's over and fill us in," said the hare.

"Yeah, no worries."

"And please try and have Falco get along with whoever you're working with. You know how arrogant he can be, and the last thing you guys need is to have the team you're working with at your throats the whole time."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

Slippy rolled out from under Falco's Arwing on a wheeled platform and said to the falcon, "Alright, you're looking good. G-diffuser's in good shape."

"Good to hear," replied Falco. With that, he jumped up over Slippy and onto his ship, climbing into the cockpit.

Krystal was over in her ship on the com line with Stygia's air traffic control, to ensure their ability to land.

After Fox glanced around the room, he looked back to Peppy who was still standing in front of him. "Alright. Guess we should be heading out soon. We'll be in touch."

The hare smiled at his young pupil, "Take care Fox. And good luck."

With that, Fox turned around and hopped into his ship. He closed the cockpit roof and began the startup sequence for departure. After he was done, he opened the com line to Falco and Krystal.

"Everything set with traffic control, Krystal?"

"Yup. We're clear all the way to our coordinates."

"Good. Diagnostics."

"Everything looks fine here," said Krystal through the radio.

"A-Ok with me," said Falco.

"Alright, let's move out."

The three engines roared to life preparing for takeoff. The energy shield leading outside of the ship disbanded, exposing the ships to the vastness of space. Fox was the first to take off, followed closely by Falco and Krystal, forming a triangle amongst them. As they sped towards the planet, Fox brought up the coordinates of the location Creswell had given to them. He set his autopilot to follow them, prompting his teammates' ships to do the same. A light blaze began to appear as the three Arwings entered into the atmosphere. The ships began to divert the course towards one of the large landmasses below, off towards the location of their next mission.

* * *

Fox was the first to exit his ship inside the hangar bay. The coordinates led them directly to this landing sight, where they were warmly greeted. Fox had taken mental notes about the surrounding environment and civilization as they flew overhead. Most of the area they had seen was civilized and had a fairly temperate climate. The people inhabiting this planet were clearly less technologically advanced than Corneria or anywhere else within Lylat, but not so much so that they revolted at the sight of an Arwing. Falco and Krystal exited their ships and made their way over to Fox's side. As the three were observing the inside of the hangar, a feline woman made her way up to the trio. She had medium-length blonde hair tied back into a ponytail and adorned her blue eyes with black-rimmed glasses. She wore a white oxford shirt with a royal blue sweater over top and a black skirt. She looked quite professional.

But when her mouth opened, nothing but gibberish came out. Nobody had any idea what she was saying. Seeing the confused looks on their faces, she suddenly remembered something and pulled a small pouch out of her pocket. She poured the contents onto her hand revealing three small earpieces. She motioned for them all to put them on, and the three hesitantly did so.

Suddenly in perfect Lylat, she said, "You guys must be Star Fox. Welcome to Stygia. My name is Grace and I'll be showing you around the next couple of days."

Confused, Fox asked, "How do you know Lylat? This planet is no where near our star system."

Grace replied, "I don't. Those earpieces you just put in are universal translators. Every language we are aware of is programmed into them. So anything said to you in any language can be understood. The ones you have are programmed to Lylat. Also, anybody else wearing one will be able to understand you as well."

"Does everybody on the planet have these?"

"As of a few years ago they do. The world organizations were bothered by the language barriers across the planet, and this was the solution."

Confused that a single planet would ever have a language barrier amongst itself in the first place, Fox nodded in acknowledgement that he understood.

She said, "Anyway, again, my name is Grace. And welcome." She extended her hand in a gesture of greeting.

"Fox McCloud. It's a pleasure," said the captain extending his hand. "This is my team, Falco Lombardi and Krystal," he said indicating his respective crewmates.

"No last name for you Krystal?" asked Grace.

The vixen replied, "Let's just say I prefer to not remember my past. It's just Krystal."

Without even batting an eye the woman replied, "Very well then. Krystal it is." Turning back to Fox she said, "If you won't mind following me I'll show you to the briefing room. My boss would like to give you a more in-depth introduction before introducing you to the rest of the facilities here. Right this way."

Grace turned on her heel and began walking towards the door on the opposite wall. As the three followed her with some distance in between, Fox leaned over and whispered to Krystal.

"Anything?" inquired the vulpine.

"Nothing. Her mind is clear. If this is a trap, she has no knowledge of it. So I doubt it."

This set Fox slightly at ease. He had been on guard since they landed in the event that this whole scheme was some sort of setup. Luckily, it didn't appear that way at all. They continued to follow Grace through the facility down several hallways into the depths of the building. Fox had already lost his sense of direction thanks to the many twists and turns. This was quite an elaborate facility. Then Grace stopped in front of a particular door and turned to face the team.

"This is the room you'll be briefed in. The team you'll be working with is already here, so go ahead and get yourselves acquainted while you wait for Creswell."

"Thank you very much," replied Fox. He opened the door and entered followed by his two teammates. When they looked at the people already seated at the table inside, they all stopped dead when they realized who it was. An awkward silence followed as the Star Fox team was caught in shock. In the room to greet them were Wolf O'Donnell, Panther Caluroso, and a black avian that none of the recognized. Presumably, they would be working with Star Wolf.

Nobody said anything. The three already seated in the room did not look surprised at all, but still remained silent. After several seconds of awkwardness, Falco broke the silence.

"Oh, this is BULLSHIT!" He immediately turned around and exited the room. He quickly looked around to find Grace and protest, but she was nowhere to be found. Apparently she knew what would happen when the two teams met and left to avoid the confrontation.

"Nice to see you too, ya dumb prick," said Panther.

Falco became a bit heated. "Oh, shut up. Just shut up," he said waving his hands in annoyance. "I can't believe you're who we're working with. Of everyone in the whole universe they could have picked, they picked you assholes. The one-eyed killjoy, Flirty McFraternizer, and…" he paused realizing he had no idea who the third person at the table was. She was an avian just like him, only with black feathers. They had a nice sheen to them, giving her a faint glow. The most noticeable feature about her was her eyes, which were a brilliant emerald color. She was dressed in a white tank top with a brown jacket overtop of it. She also wore a silver chain with two dog tags hanging from it. After Falco was done looking her up and down, he looked back into her bright green eyes. Her gaze almost made Falco lose his thought process entirely.

She broke the silence. "Zoe. Zoe Snyder. And I'd prefer to go without a nickname, thanks." Falco wasn't sure how to reply. He wanted to hate her because she was part of Star Wolf, but couldn't bring himself to do it at the same time. There was just something about her that made him stop dead.

While Falco continued to eye up his new acquaintance, Fox, trying to be civil, began talking to Wolf. "So what happened to Leon? Get shot down or something?"

Wolf leaned back in his chair before replying, "Let's just say he finally lost it. It was inevitable. All those years of maiming people just finally caught up to his conscience I guess."

"That's not hard to believe at all," Fox said trying not to be hostile. After the Aparoid Invasion, terms had been somewhat better between the two teams, but still not impeccable. It was hard to develop an affinity for someone who once tried to kill you.

Fox continued, "Do they have any idea how bad of an idea this is? Does this Creswell guy know about the history between us?"

"He does," Panther chimed in. "When we got here, he told us it was you we'd be working with. We were just as shocked as you are now, but he did his research. He knows about everything between all of us, including the mild truce during the Aparoid War. He figured that was enough to encourage us to co-exist."

Falco replied, "Well if that's the case, he's out of his fucking mind!!"

"Will you shut the hell up already?!" Wolf said while standing up and leaning on the table in front of him. "Listen shithead, we're basically broke, and so are you. After the war, there hasn't been shit in terms of merc jobs and you know it. I'm here for the paycheck and I don't care who I have to get along with to get it. If you want to keep those ships of yours running, I suggest you calm the hell down and do the same."

Falco couldn't argue. He knew the team was strapped for cash and really needed this job. He would have to learn how to swallow his pride, and fast. Just then the door opened and in walked the wolf that the team had spoken with on the com system that day. Creswell was dressed in a dark-colored, very professional suit and tie, the likes of which made everybody else in the room feel underdressed.

He said, "If you people are done bickering, I'd like to get this briefing underway. The sooner we get this mission started the better." No one objected and everyone made their way to a seat at the table facing the projector screen that Creswell was now standing in front of.

Pulling a remote out of his pocket to turn on the projector, Creswell began speaking. "You six are currently at a branch of the F.I.A. in the Democratic Republic of Dubinia, or just Dubinia. F.I.A. stands for Federal Intelligence Agency and we are the people who collect and analyze info about possible threats towards our country. Unlike your star system, our planet runs a bit differently. There are 216 individual countries on this planet, each with its own governing body and set of laws. Most of them have differing languages as well. It seems quite inefficient compared to your system, I know. But deal with it. Dubinia is arguably the most advanced and powerful country on this planet, and along with it comes a lot of animosity, both from other countries and individual organizations. It is one of those such organizations that brings me to invite you here today."

He pushed a button and a picture of the bust of a middle-aged black reptile appeared on the projector screen. The person appeared to be a lizard of some sort, had a very stoic face and had stone cold blue eyes. His complexion was firm, and he clearly was an unfriendly person.

Creswell continued, "This is Benoit Malveaux. He is the leader of a Sahranian weapons corporation called Le Pistolet Doré, or LPD for short. Sahrania is a country across the ocean in a continent called Europa, which is another powerful area on the global scale. The company started independently with a contract stating that they would develop and manufacture weaponry for Sahrania's military operations. But Sahrania was never quite the country to involve themselves in global conflicts, so the demand for weaponry wasn't exactly strong. After some pressure from the company, Sahranian's government decided to just terminate the contract and allow LPD to work independently and sell to other countries. The only stipulation was that they couldn't sell to the country's explicit enemies. The company agreed, and began to do business with the rest of the world."

"Throughout the past 15 years, this planet has suffered a somewhat serious economic recession. Almost every company was affected, and LPD was no exception. But instead of becoming more frugal like most companies did to save money, Malveaux decided on a different path. After a United Stygian Nations meeting about twenty years ago, it was universally decided that Northern Neotopia's government was too hostile and unstable to be able to safely handle weaponry of any major scale. Northern Neotopia is a small country across the other ocean in southeast Orsinia, another separate continent. Let's just say their leadership is a bit screwy, so no one trusts them. So a ban was placed on any and all weaponry to be sold to the country. But recently, evidence has surfaced to suggest that they possess nuclear weaponry that could basically wipe out a medium-sized country." Creswell changed the slide, revealing satellite surveillance photos of what appeared to be missiles.

"Trust me, they have absolutely no way of developing such a thing. They are too technologically ignorant to develop a weapon on that large of a scale. We think that LPD sold it to them behind everyone's back. Northern Neotopia in possession of such a thing could cause problems on a global scale and possibly wipe out a major portion of the planet. And they probably won't even think twice about it."

Fox said, "Well that's understandably a problem, but why do you need us? You have those photos. Isn't that enough to prove it?"

Creswell replied, "No. Northern Neotopia will claim they developed it on their own and we can't prove otherwise. But seriously, they could not have possibly done it themselves. LPD is the only weapons corporation that large enough with morals that loose to sell something like that to them. Unfortunately, we can't prove it. That's why we need you. This mission actually consists of two parts. First, we need to disarm the missiles in Northern Neotopia. They could launch those at any time without a moment's notice. We need those deactivated as soon as possible. Next, we need to gain information proving LPD's association with Northern Neotopia's government. Once we have tangible proof that they were the ones who sold it, we can formally prosecute the company and Malveaux. You're going to have to infiltrate the company's headquarters in Sahrania in order to get this. There is nothing anywhere else that can prove the connection. Trust me, if it was out there, we'd have found it already."

The mission was simple as stated, but when the teams started thinking about it more, they realized how dangerous it really was. This was not suited to any of their styles. All six were used to dogfights and artillery battles, not covert ops. This was new to just about all of them.

Thinking of this, Wolf said, "Why us? I mean, you have to have some people around who are more experienced at covert ops than we are. Why pull us out of another galaxy entirely for this mission?"

Creswell answered, "Because nobody knows who you are. If you're captured, they'll have no idea who you work for. Plus, Northern Neotopia was left out of the loop with the whole earpiece translator thing. You won't be able to understand them and they won't be able to understand you. That makes getting information out of someone a bit difficult. And as far as I know, nobody living in Northern Neotopia speaks Lylat, so they wouldn't be able to find a translator anywhere. And when it comes time to work in Sahrania the same applies. They have the earpieces, but you'll be able to walk around freely without being stopped because no one will recognize you."

Silence befell the room. Everyone understood what was to be expected of them during this mission.

Creswell said, "Alright, that was just the basic briefing. This entire mission is going to be referred to as Operation Gamma. I'll give you more in-depth details as we get closer to the actual mission, but now you know what you're here for. You've all been traveling a lot, so I think it's a good idea to get some rest. The next few days will be dedicated to acquainting you with the facilities here. But really, what I want is for all of you to start getting along. I don't want any of the juvenile rivalry bullshit going on during this operation. If you want to kill each other afterwards, go right ahead. But don't even think about it while I'm paying you. Understood?"

Nobody said a word, but sullenly nodded their heads. No one in the room strongly appreciated the way they were being talked to at the moment, but since he would be signing their checks later, they all just stayed quiet.

"Good. Now you'll all be staying here for the duration of this mission. We like to keep track of our personnel during missions. That's not a problem is it?"

Again, silence. "Good. I can assure you that both of your ships will remain safe in orbit. I've already arranged for that, so don't bother worrying about it. Have a good night, and I'll be seeing you soon."

And with that, Creswell exited the room only to be replaced by Grace. She cheerily said, "Follow me. I'll show you to your living quarters."

And with that, the six people now referred to as a single team stood up and made their way out of the room behind Grace with what was sure to be an eventful next couple of weeks ahead of them.


	3. Chapter 3

"They want us to freaking live here? What are we, prisoners?" Panther exclaimed while the six team members were being led to their living quarters.

Wolf turned to him and said, "Will you just chill? It's not like we'll be in a stone cell or anything. Besides, maybe a change of scenery will do you some good."

Panther continued to mumble to himself as Grace led her way down the twisting hallways. Fox had lost his direction again. They were even deeper into the F.I.A. facility, but now were in what appeared to be more of a barracks wing. They had passed a few other people along the way exiting and entering living quarters. They seemed nice, for military living standards anyway. But he still wasn't exactly sure if this was part of the military or not.

Grace stopped at the dead end of a hallway with three doors. One was directly behind her, and two were on either side of her. She said, "This is where you will be staying for the duration of your time here. Each room is a double, so go ahead and pick roommates. We really couldn't care less who stays with who." She handed several card keys to the group. "We're done for today. So go ahead and relax and explore further into the building if you like. Just don't get lost, and don't go anywhere you're clearly not supposed to. If anyone asks, you're part of Operation Gamma. They'll understand and leave you be. Any questions?"

The group was silent. Grace continued, "Ok then. Good night, and I'll see you all in the morning. We'll have a full tour of the building tomorrow. Don't worry about waking up, we'll take care of that for you. We're also going to give you time to return to your ships in orbit and pack some things for the next few weeks. But everything you'll need for the night will be in the rooms already. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

With that, Grace moved past them and walked down the hallway before she turned around the corner, leaving the group alone to explore their rooms. Wolf was the first to speak.

"Alright. So who's living with who?"

Fox said, "If you guys don't mind, Krystal and I would like to room together. Being a couple and all, we'd like to spend more time together. Is that alright?"

Falco wanted to object because that would mean he would have to room with someone in Star Wolf. But he stopped himself because he didn't want to cock-block his best friend either. So he stayed silent.

Wolf said, "Well if that's the case, Panther and I should room together. If either of us has to live with Falco, we'll probably kill him. Is that ok with you, Zoe?"

The black avian had her arms crossed as she eyed up the blue falcon. "It's cool, so long as he doesn't try anything. I don't hate him yet, so I guess I'll live."

"Yet?" inquired Falco.

She responded, "Your reputation precedes you. From what I've heard, you're not always the easiest to get along with."

Falco opened his mouth to object, but realized it was a lost cause.

Fox said, "Alright, well that's settled. I'm tired, so I'm heading to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Wolf nodded to him before watching the two foxes turn and enter the room behind them. Before turning to enter his own room, he said, "Now you two play nice. Falco, if you lay a finger on her I'll kill you."

Falco was a bit taken aback at the remark. "What? Are you her boyfriend now or something?"

"No, but she's one of the best damn mercs I've ever come across. I really don't feel like trying to find a replacement."

Zoe chimed in, "Chill, Wolf. I can handle myself and you know it. Do you really think this guy could take me?"

Wolf laughed, "Probably not. Just try and get along."

Falco was about to protest the insult but Wolf and Panther were already through the door into their room before he could say anything. So he just let out a sigh.

Zoe laughed, "You guys really don't like each other don't you. And I thought all the bad blood was gone."

Falco replied, "Far from it. I don't think that'll ever be gone, really."

He moved to enter the third room on the far wall between the other two. When the two entered, they were somewhat surprised to see a living room setup with couches, chairs, and a television in the primary room. They certainly did not expect accommodations like this, and were happy to see otherwise. Connected to the living room was a small kitchen, not quite fit for cooking large meals, but certainly big enough to handle two people. As Falco continued to look around the main room, Zoe moved past him to another door that presumably led to the bedroom.

When she opened it and took a look inside she said, "Umm…we might have a problem."

Falco answered, "What. Small beds?"

She said, "Well, 'small' isn't the word for it. And neither is 'beds'."

Confused, Falco went over to the door and stood next to Zoe to look inside. He saw a single full-sized bed up against the middle of the wall on the far side of the room. He looked around the room to find no other beds.

Zoe turned to him with a slightly annoyed look and said, "Looks like we're sharing."

* * *

Falco had already prepared for bed. He was on the end of the single bed in nothing but a pair of boxers, his usual sleeping attire. The whole situation was a bit awkward. Falco and Zoe had met only just a few hours ago and now they were getting prepared to get in bed with each other, literally. But there wasn't exactly much to be done about it. Neither of them wanted to sleep on the couch and this was the only other piece of furniture suited for sleeping. They decided to just suck it up.

Zoe exited the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom and Falco took a look at her. She was wearing the white tank top she had on earlier along with a pair of snugly fitting blue underwear, and nothing else. But she still wore the silver chain with the two dog tags. She was very slender, much more so than you would expect someone in the mercenary business to be, even a female. She was by no means frail, just rather skinny. Even though she had a small frame, her muscle tone was quite developed. Clearly she underwent some serious training in the past, but nothing to make her overly muscular. Falco couldn't help but stare.

The black avian saw him eyeing her up and said, "Stop. I know you like what you see, but don't even think about it."

Falco shrugged his hands out in defense. "What? I'm not allowed to admire my new teammate's physique?"

Zoe laughed. "Right. I'm sure that's all you were admiring. Please, we hardly know each other."

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's true."

"Well fine then. Tell me your life story and I'll tell you mine. Then we'll know each other."

"You serious?"

Falco shrugged. "Sure. Why not? We got time and I know you'd feel better sleeping with someone you at least know a little bit about."

"And by sleeping you mean…sleeping."

Falco raised his eyes to the ceiling and moved a finger to his chin as if to emulate pensive thinking. Zoe scoffed, "Oh god, you better be kidding. Try something like that and I'll rip your nutsack off."

Falco laughed. "Ah chill. I'm not that arrogant."

Zoe smiled a bit and moved to sit down on the side of the bed opposite Falco. She said, "Ok then. You go first. How'd you get into mercenary life?"

"Well, I grew up in Corneria city. I never met my father because after I was born he decided alcohol was the best way to deal with things. He disappeared before I could remember. My mother told me he just left one night and never came back. As I grew older, she stopped becoming a parent as well. She eventually became too upset over my dad and decided that cocaine was a good way to deal with it. I came home after school more times than I can remember to see my mom face down on the coffee table with a razor blade in one hand and a straw in the other. She never over-dosed to my knowledge, but her problem became worse and worse. Eventually, she started ignoring me altogether. That was when I decided I needed to get out. When I was 13, I just packed up what little stuff I had and left. I walked right out the front door and the last thing I ever saw my mom do was snort a line on the coffee table. She didn't even notice me leaving."

He continued, "I had nowhere to go, but I didn't care. If I could find somebody who even noticed my existence it was better than where I came from. I found a nice little alleyway that had an awning overhead to shelter me from the elements. It worked, for a while. I stole things to live. There was a fruit stand on the corner near the alley that I hit up almost every day. One day the owner saw me swipe an orange and tried to stop me. I just ran. I kept running until he lost his breath and couldn't catch me. A guy named Atticus saw the whole thing. He was a husky about a foot taller than I was at the time and had eyes that spoke volumes. He didn't even look much older than me, but I could tell he had seen a lot of shit. I'll never forget the first time he looked at me. As soon as I saw him on that corner, I knew I found someone who understood me. He felt bad for me and clearly understood my situation, so he took me under his wing and let me stay with him in this warehouse that had long been abandoned. It was way better than my alley."

"Anyway, I come to find out later that he was the leader of a gang called DTA. I never even bothered asking what it stood for. I'm not even sure it stood for anything. Well, long story short, I lived with DTA in that warehouse for a good while. They helped me get by and I was grateful. Atticus wasn't proud of being in a gang, but it was the only way of life he knew. It was just a way for him to get through life, and he was just trying to help me do the same. Of course, there were other gangs in the area who just seemed to get bored a lot and came looking to start problems all the time. That was how I came to learn my way around a knife fight like the back of my hand."

"Eventually I decided that that wasn't the way I wanted to live the rest of my life. The only possible outlet I could find was the Cornerian Flight Academy. They were looking for new recruits at the time and I figured I might as well give it a shot since I had nothing to lose. They liked my street smarts almost as much as my combat skills. They figured that someone who knew how to defend themselves as well as I did was worthy enough to become a soldier. Atticus didn't mind me wanting to leave the gang, and even seemed happy that I was able to find a way out of the street life. So then I said my goodbyes to DTA and started life at the CFA. I passed their program in amazing time. Somehow flying Arwings was just in my blood and I quickly shot to the top of my class in piloting skills. It were those skills that got the attention of Peppy Hare, who was the guy who put the current Star Fox team together. I figured living as a merc would have more perks than living as a soldier, so I went for it. I've had my partings with the team in the past, but I've basically been with Star Fox even since."

Zoe just nodded in understanding. She had no idea Falco's life had been that rough. She had a newfound respect for him and was beginning to understand his somewhat brash personality.

Falco said, "Ok you're turn. How did a pretty thing like you join Star Wolf?"

"Well, my story starts out kind of like yours. I also grew up in Corneria city. After I was born, my mother suffered from postpartum depression so badly that she drank herself to death while I was still an infant. I never really met her. My father understandably didn't take it well, and he became a little overprotective of me because of it. I went through middle school as normally as anyone with a single parent could have, but my dad was just always so overbearing. He wouldn't let me do anything or join any clubs because he was afraid of what might happen."

She went on, "So in my first few months of high school, I was longing for something to do to break the mold of a life my dad had set for me. There was an open casting all for a modeling agency after school one day. I called my dad and told him I had to stay after for an hour to take a test. He bought it. The casting call was for Max Model Management, or M3 for short. Basically, I uncovered a talent I never knew I had. They asked me to walk down the stage in what I had on, so I did. I knocked their socks off with my walk. The next part of the audition was to take a single polaroid for them to review later. I didn't even try that hard to make a look. I just tried to look more 'high-fashion' as they would say. Apparently, it worked. They hired me on the spot without even calling back to the agency. The one judge said he saw something in me that he has just never seen before. The other judge told me she thought my eyes would sell anything at all in a catalog. Apparently, I was really good at modeling."

Falco said, "Are you for real? You modeled?"

"Oh yeah. That hard to believe?"

He paused for a moment while looking at her face and then up and down her body. She certainly was attractive. "Well…I guess not, really."

Zoe laughed before continuing. "I never told my dad I went to the audition or that I was hired. Two weeks later, M3 called me to say that they booked a job for me. It wasn't anything major, just a low-budget jewelry designer looking for some print ads. But I was happy to take any sort of job. The day of the photoshoot, I decided that I had to tell my dad about it. Basically, he was infuriated. He said there was no need for any 14 year old to be selling themselves like that and that I should be ashamed of myself. I wasn't. I loved my dad, I really did. But I just couldn't live like that any more. I didn't want to leave because I knew he would react just as badly as how he did with my mother. But I just had to, for myself. I snuck out of the house when he was at work with all of my belongings and went to my photoshoot. It was my first professional shoot ever, so of course I was nervous. But basically, I did what I did at the audition because it worked for me there. It was at that shoot that I developed my 'signature' look that would carry me through my career."

Falco interrupted, "Yeah? What was that?"

Zoe repositioned herself on the bed directly facing Falco. She closed her eyes and breathed in before moving her head down a bit. She then opened her eyes looking slightly up from the ground to reveal what Falco could only describe as the most stunning pair of eyes he had ever seen. It was so strange. They were the same eyes he was talking to just moments ago, but now they appeared to be looking directly into the depths of his soul. It wasn't a frightening look, but it was certainly powerful. He couldn't even move because he was so awestruck by the avian looking at him right now. Only when Zoe blinked and moved back to her original seated position did Falco regain his thought process.

"See? That's what gave me my career," she said.

Falco, still amazed by her beauty in those brief moments, only managed to say, "…yeah…"

Zoe laughed a bit before continuing. "So when that shot hit the media, my career took off. Every agency wanted to sign me and every designer wanted me in their next runway show or print ad. My agent with M3 at the time told me that she had never seen such a response to a fresh model before. She was amazed at how many jobs she was starting to book for me, especially because I was only 14. So from there, I decided to drop out of school because the modeling world seemed a lot more promising. I took the paycheck from that first shoot and put a down payment on an apartment in the high-end part of town. The landlord thought it was pretty weird that a 14 year old was living by herself, especially in that area, but he couldn't argue with the money. I guess my dad was so angry that he never even bothered reported me missing. No one ever came looking."

"I started having at least one photoshoot per day, most times more, and then a runway show about 3 nights a week. I was literally part of every major designer's campaign in Corneria city. I was the biggest thing to hit the industry in quite a while. My career was great, and by the time I was 17 I had more money than I knew what to do with. But after a while, it started getting to me. I was getting lonely because I knew that everyone I knew liked me for how I looked and how well I could sell their products. I didn't have any real friends. So to try and stop the cycle, I started toning down the number of jobs I took on. I left more time for myself and less time dedicated to my career. It definitely made me happier, but it certainly wasn't quite what I wanted."

"So to try and add some more flavor to my life, I started taking martial arts classes. The exercise certainly helped me keep in shape and it was a great way to relieve stress. I didn't have to worry about missing lessons because I was such a hot commodity that designers would schedule me for shoots at my convenience as opposed to theirs. I soon learned that I had a very strong affinity for the martial arts much like I did for modeling, only this I actually loved. I couldn't get enough of it. I trained whenever I could and within about 2 years I became the star pupil at my dojo. My sensei took me to a tournament when he decided I was ready. The only thing he didn't tell me was that it was a men's tournament."

"It didn't matter. I crushed everybody. I won hands down without a scratch on me. I was totally unknown in this world and I blew everybody out of the water. After the tournament was over and I was congratulated by all the contestants, I was approached by an older gray fox named Harry Milton. After informing me how impressed he was by my skills, he informed me that he was forming a squadron within the Cornerian Army dedicated to special operations. Exactly what type of operations he couldn't tell me, but it didn't quite matter to me. I wanted in. I felt like it was just the thing I needed to escape the life I was learning to strongly dislike. All the designers I worked for and M3 went completely insane when I informed them I wanted to retire, but I didn't care. I was doing this for me, and I just didn't care what they thought."

"After attending the CFA and passing all the standard military training, I was welcomed by Harry into the Cobra Squad as it was called. I was placed on a team with two others, a white wolf named John Ashton and a bengal tiger named Trey Sweigard. We all got along really well and were essentially a family. Basically, we were a small team performing combat missions against small organizations causing problems for the Cornerian government. I came to find out later that our real purpose was to alleviate some financial strain on the military. The Cobra Squad was formed to try and take care of some of the problems that teams like you and Star Wolf were hired for. They figured that if they could make a team just as efficient but already associated with the government, it would be more cost effective."

"Things were going pretty well for most part. We never had any missions we couldn't handle and we usually came out totally unscathed. But about three years after we became a team, we received a mission to take out the main power generator for a small mafia organization working out of Titania. The mission was going without a hitch. I was stationed on a mountainside outside of the building as a sniper to pick off any guards that might show up while John and Trey went inside to plant the bomb. John radioed me to say that the bomb was planted and that they were on their way out. Not even 5 seconds later I was blinded by this huge explosion coming from the building. The bomb had malfunctioned and gone off too early while John and Trey were still inside. I sat there and watched as the two best friends I ever had went down in flames right in front of me. That's what these dog tags are," she said as she held up the chain with the two dog tags that was around her neck.

Falco noticed a single tear rolling down Zoe's cheek as she continued to speak. "This is all that's left of them. Somehow the tags survived the explosion and were found by Recovery later. They let me have them as a keepsake." She stopped for a moment to wipe away her tears and collect herself.

"After that accident, I just couldn't be in the Cornerian army anymore. I just couldn't. They offered me to join a new team and really wanted me to come back in light of the Aparoid Invasion, but I was too afraid that the same thing would happen. I just couldn't trust them anymore because it was their bomb that malfunctioned and killed my two best friends. So I left. I couldn't go back to modeling because I just didn't want to live that life anymore, so I went searching for alternatives. After the Aparoid War was over, I heard about Leon being removed from Star Wolf and jumped on the opportunity to replace him. My interview with them went really well and I had the job after I kicked Wolf's ass in a sparring match and shot down Panther in the simulator. And so here I am, a fashion model turned mercenary."

Falco wasn't sure what to say. Zoe's emotions clearly showed how upset she still was over losing her old teammates. After a bit of a pause, he said, "I'm…really sorry to hear that…about your team I mean…"

She replied, "It's ok. I'm over it…sort of…"

Falco looked across the room at the time. It was almost 1 a.m. and they were surely going to be awoken early in the morning.

The blue pilot said, "I think we should get to bed though. It's getting late."

Wiping the remaining tears from her face and checking the time as well, Zoe said, "You're right. We probably have a long day tomorrow."

With that, both birds moved to get under the covers while Falco reached over to turn off the lamp on the table next to his side of the bed. He said, "Goodnight Zoe."

"Night Falco. If you snore I swear to god I'm going to punch you right in the face."

Falco couldn't help but laugh. He was starting to like her, even if she was so violent sometimes. As he began to drift off to sleep, he could only think about what the coming days would bring both in terms of the mission and in terms of his new teammates.


	4. Chapter 4

To point, the day was pretty uneventful. The Star Fox and Star Wolf teams, now singly referred to as The Gamma Team, were given a tour of the whole facility by Grace. All of them were quite impressed by the quality of where they were staying. For military barracks, the place was excellent. But it became evident that they were not in military barracks per se. They were part of a branch higher than the standard military, handling much higher profile missions. The team could easily connect to the others staying in the facilities because they all seemed to be the mercenary type. While very few of them actually were mercenaries, if any at all besides themselves, none of them acted like a standard soldier.

The F.I.A. facility included a massive training area. It had everything ranging from multiple fully equipped gyms to a natatorium to sparring facilities. The place was enormous and it would surely take some time to become familiar with. There wasn't much in terms of leisure areas, but the food certainly was more than sufficient. Where most barracks would have a mess hall serving barely recognizable food items, this facility had a very extensive pantry with just about anything you could want.

Curious as to why there was a pantry instead of a cafeteria, Krystal asked, "Why a pantry instead of a cafeteria of some sort? Don't places like these normally prepare the food themselves?"

Grace answered, "Yes, but we like to operate a bit differently. As you all have surely seen, each room has a mini kitchen in it. We've come to discover that our personnel tend to prefer making their own meals rather than being told what they're going to eat. The cost really isn't too much higher, but it's a small price to pay for the higher morale of you guys."

Wolf said, "From my experience, the last thing you guys care about is morale. All you seem to be concerned with is results."

Grace nodded before saying, "You're right. But this facility houses the people who handle the matters most critical to national security. While results are what we care about the most, there always seems to be a correlation between morale and results. And seeing as how these missions are most critical to our nation, we prefer not to cut any corners."

Zoe said, "So I take it that's what the deal is with the television and stuff in our rooms too?"

Grace answered, "Exactly. That's why our facility is so top notch. We want to maximize the odds in our favor, so a facility liked this only seemed obvious."

The team understood. They were quite pleased to be staying in a place like this. It made it seem a lot less like they were forced to stay here because in all honesty, they preferred it. It certainly was nicer than either of their ships. Plus if they broke anything, they wouldn't have to pay to fix it.

After the team looked around the facility some more, they reconvened with Grace.

Their guide said, "Ok, you guys can explore the place more a bit later. But now we have to meet up with Creswell for a more detailed briefing on stage one of your mission. After that, you guys will head back to your ships in orbit to collect your things for the rest of your stay here. Follow me."

The team followed her back into the business wing of the building. They soon arrived back in the same room where they all met the day before. Creswell was already there with the projector on and ready. Grace exited and closed the door as the team took their seats around the large table.

Creswell said, "Good to see you again. Becoming acquainted to the facilities here I hope?"

Fox answered, "More or less. It's very nice here."

"Glad to hear it. We aim to keep our personnel happy. But right now, we need to get back to business. Like I said yesterday, the first stage of Operation Gamma will take place behind enemy lines in Northern Neotopia. Now, I'm going to go over exactly what you'll be doing during this phase of the mission."

He continued, "The first problem in this operation is getting behind the Northern Neotopian border. They completely shut off any and all travel in or out of the country many years ago, so we can't just walk in. So to get around that, we're going to drop you guys in. Southern Neotopia is directly beneath Northern Neoptopia, just like the name implies. We're on friendly terms with the South, so they've already agreed for us to use their airspace for this mission."

"Basically what's going to happen is you guys will all be in a single plane flying north above Southern Neotopia. Before the planes reach the border, you guys will dive from the planes together. The momentum will carry you over the border and into Northern Neotopia unnoticed, because they certainly don't have the radar technology to pick up objects as small as a person in airspace. The planes will turn away so that they won't be picked up from Northern Neotopia. If you all time it right, you should land together and be able to go from there. But this is going to take place at night to keep visibility to a minimum, so you're still going to have to be careful."

"We've had our physicists working the past few days to come up with a location to drop you from, and with what they've come up with, you should land within a mile of the facility housing the nuclear device. That facility is what I have here."

Creswell pushed a button on his remote and the schematic diagram of a building appeared on the screen. The scale showed it to be somewhat the size of a hangar, and built similarly. It had a large central room that led to two hallways at opposite corners and many other rooms along them.

Creswell continued, "This is the building where we've determined them to be housing the missiles. It's a reconverted hangar and only serves as a storage facility. They don't have the equipment to launch them from there, so we knew we're safe until the missiles are moved. This is where we're going to strike and take them out. The main hangar gate is too secure to be able to infiltrate from there, so we had to find another route." He pushed a button on his remote that shot a small red laser out of the end of it. He pointed the laser to a door on the lower left end of the schematic.

"We've concluded that this is the best place to enter the building. They only place guards inside the building around the missiles. They have no one outside or in any other part of the building. Apparently they think that no one knows about these missiles, and don't guard them all that heavily. Of course, the door is going to be locked and armed. So to get around that problem, we have this."

He hit the button again and now on the projector was a device that looked like an oversized wristwatch.

Creswell said, "This is what we like to call the Security Infiltration Device, or SID for short. It's specifically designed to disarm doors and open them. One of you will be wearing this with the device itself facing the underside of your wrist. When you approach the door, release the two prongs on the side and slip them into the doorframe. The SID releases a small charge that basically fries the circuits on any security system that senses the opening of the door. After that, you detach the device from the wristband and place it on the door with the two magnets on the back if it. Since the locks on these doors are computerized, the device works to decode them and open the door within a matter of seconds."

"We're going to place three of you outside the building to take care of anybody who might show up after we've infiltrated, just to make sure the whole thing goes without a hitch. One person will guard the door you enter, another will be at the door on the opposite side of the building, and a third will be outside the main hangar entrance. These are the only three ways into the building, so nobody will be able to go in our out without you knowing it. The rest of you will be inside the building taking care of the missiles."

"After you're in, you shouldn't face any form of security or any guards until you reach the main room. In here, we think there are generally anywhere between 5 and 8 guards at a time. Two of you will be armed with silenced sniper rifles to pick off the guards without causing any commotion. Once they're all taken care of, the two snipers will move to opposite corners of the room where the only hallways are and make sure no other guards show up. The third person will take care of the missiles totally unopposed."

"The way the missiles are going to be disarmed is actually more simple than any other part of this mission. LPD enhances the nuclear potential of their missiles with an enzyme that they synthesized that basically makes the uranium inside the core more reactive and unstable than it normally would be. But the enzyme has to be constantly added to the core or else the uranium will go back to its ground state and be completely inert. All you have to do is cut the cord that adds the enzyme to the core, and the missiles will lose all explosive potential. The active uranium will decay and will no longer be able to be used. The enzyme is kept within the missile itself in a tank that fuels the core for a few months. Because LPD is a public corporation, all their patents can be accessed by anybody anywhere, so we've acquired the blueprints for these missiles and found out that a bright yellow cord behind the main control panel is what feeds in the enzyme. Basically, you have to remove the control panel on each missile, cut the enzyme cord, and the missile will be totally deactivated until the cord is fixed. But because no one will be around to fix it, they'll go dead. But you have to be quick about it and get out of there right away. Once the uranium starts to decay, it'll release all kinds of radiation that'll do nothing good for you. Get in, and get out before you get radiation poisoning."

"But the exit is actually the riskiest part of this entire mission. You can't just walk out of the country due to Northern Neotopia's self-imposed border restrictions. So we had to get a bit creative with this exit strategy. We can't just go in and kill everybody in sight, pick you up, and be on our merry way. We have no reason to be in that country because we basically have no right to be destroying their missiles like this."

"Very recently we've been able to harness the technology that Lylat has had for years. We've finally discovered how to teleport inorganic matter from the planet's orbit back to the planet. We have already launched a small satellite carrier that is holding a stealth shuttle inside for you to use. When you contact back here that the missiles have been disarmed, we're going to beam down the shuttle and you'll use that to fly out. We'll send it into the field right outside the storage facility. But this is quite risky because radar technologies have been developed to the point that there's about a 50/50 chance of a stealth aircraft being picked up. This is the only way we can come up with you being able to safely exit the country. Two of you will be trained to pilot the ship before the mission and you'll use it to fly back into Southern Neotopia. There, we'll have people stationed to bring you back here to Dubinia We'll need a bit of luck for that part, but quite frankly, there's no other way of exiting the country undiscovered. So whoever is piloting the shuttle, don't take your time. Get the hell out of there as fast as you can so they won't have to time to shoot you down if they do find you."

The team felt uneasy about this. Even if the entire mission went as planned, there was basically a 50% chance of failure that was out of their control. But at least there was still a chance.

Wolf nodded, "Ok. I don't like that last part, but it sounds thorough enough. But who's going to be doing what?"

Creswell said, "We've already figured that out for you. We figure that Lombardi, Caluroso, and Snyder are the best choices to enter the building. Caluroso and Snyder are both naturally black, which only makes remaining hidden even easier. They will be the two snipers. Lombardi is going to be the one disarming the missiles, only because we heard that he really knows his way around a knife. Any simpleton can cut a plastic cord with a knife really, but we figure the extra practice can't hurt. Krystal is going to be wearing the SID and will be positioned at the door after it's opened. McCloud is going to guard the main hangar door and O'Donnell is going to stay at the door on the opposite of the first. We also picked Lombardi and O'Donnell to learn to pilot the shuttle, only because they are the two best pilots amongst you. Are there any problems with what I just said?"

There weren't. The choices seemed logical and the team was content with them.

Creswell nodded. "Good then. Your training begins tomorrow and we hope to have this mission underway in the next two weeks. The sooner this happens, the better. I'm sure I'll see you all before then, so take care until then."

With that Creswell exited the room leaving only the six members of the Gamma Team inside. Falco was the first to break the silence.

"Dude, why am I the one dealing with the nuclear shit? That really can't be safe cutting into a uranium-filled missile."

Panther answered, "Because he thinks you're the most annoying and would prefer you to get radiation poisoning over any of the rest of us."

Falco's temper started to flare. "Oh you dumb prick. I swear to god if you say another word to me…"

Wolf cut him off, "Lombardi, shut the fuck up." He turned to Panther, "You too, asshole. We talked about this already. If we want to get paid, we need to get along with these guys. If you start any more problems I swear to god I'm going to punch you so hard you won't even be able to start them."

Both Falco and Panther were silent. Neither of them were happy to be working with one another, but knew they had to learn to cooperate, especially since they'd be infiltrating the building together. Along with training, the next two weeks were going to have to see the two teams getting along together, or else the mission would never be able to happen successfully.

* * *

Fox hopped out of his Arwing along with Falco and Krystal in the docking bay of the Great Fox. The three had returned to the ship in order to collect their things and fill in Peppy and Slippy on the mission. As soon as they all exited the cockpits, the doors to the bay opened up. Peppy walked in to greet his team. Fox met his with a warm smile.

Peppy said, "Hey guys. How'd the briefing go?"

Fox was about to speak until Falco interrupted him. "We're working with fucking Star Wolf. I almost punched out Panther twice."

Peppy was quick to react. "Excuse me?"

Fox just sighed. "Listen, it's not as bad as it sounds. So long as Panther and birdbrain here get over themselves, we'll be fine. Wolf is being very civil about the whole thing and we're getting along just fine."

Peppy said, "What about Leon? I'm sure he and Falco aren't happy to see each other either."

Fox said, "Actually he's not on the team anymore. Apparently he went crazy or something and they have a new member."

"Not surprising. Who's that?"

"Avian girl by the name of Zoe. She's been with them for like a year or two now."

Peppy asked, "What's she like? Typical Star Wolf, marginally insane?"

Fox said, "Actually, I'm not even sure. Haven't talked to her all that much." The captain turned to Falco. "Falco, you're rooming with her. What's she like?"

Falco hesitated for a moment before saying, "Well…she's pretty…nice…"

Fox raised an eyebrow as he said, "Nice? You never describe anyone as nice."

Falco took up a defensive posture before saying, "What? I just think she's cool is all. Better than those other too jackasses on her team."

Fox was a bit confused with Falco's reaction. He said, "You like her, don't you?"

Falco was taken aback. "What?! No! She's hot, alright? She used to be a supermodel, dude. Of course I'm attracted to her at least a little"

"So you do like her."

"Not like that. Once we start working together I'm sure I'll get over it. She's a merc, and I've never met a female mercenary that I liked."

Krystal chimed in, "Umm…hey. I'm right here."

Falco said, "And?"

An awkward silence followed. Krystal hadn't worked with Falco long enough to see his good side, so she was still convinced that he was an arrogant ass. They didn't exactly get along as well as they could.

After a while, Peppy said, "Ok then. Now that you've all managed to piss each other off for today, go ahead and fill me in on the mission."

While Fox started filling Peppy in on exactly what they would be doing, Falco zoned out into his own thoughts.

_Do I really like Zoe? I can't. I mean, we just met. There's no way I'm attracted to her already. She's smoking hot, that's for sure. I just like to look at her. Wow, that was pretty contradictory. Way to go. I doubt anything serious will get started though. Besides, she's probably convinced that I'm an ass already. So even if I wanted something to happen, it probably wouldn't. Whatever. She seems cool enough so hopefully we'll get along. But I have to say, if she seems interested in me, I'm not going to complain…_


	5. Chapter 5

A week and a half had passed since the Gamma Team had formed. The training was going well with everyone acquainting themselves to Stygia's technology. They couldn't use their own weaponry because that would set off way too many alarms if they were discovered by anybody. So the plasma was deserted in favor of bullets.

The F.I.A. had dedicated a major wing of the facility to this mission. It was deemed the highest-profile and therefore garnered the most use of the training areas. A state of the art virtual reality training mechanism was just one of the devices being used daily by the team. The program that they used was an exact replica of where their mission was going to take place that was developed from surveillance images. The team knew the area like the back of their hands and had the entire mission down to a science. The only hitch was when the team first attempted the dive from the plane in a night setting, but more practice alleviated that problem.

Even better was the fact that all six were beginning to get along. Falco and Panther had just taken to ignoring each other because they both realized that being amiable towards one other was just impossible. Wolf had come to realize that it just wasn't worth it holding a grudge anymore and made every effort to try and get along with the Star Fox team. Krystal and Fox were the same way, realizing that any stress amongst the team would only cause problems. Zoe had no reason to dislike anybody. Since her joining the Star Wolf team, no confrontation with Star Fox had occurred, and she had even started to take a liking to them. They were good people, and she got along with them well.

The team was in the middle of yet another run through the hangar infiltration procedure in the virtual reality console. The six had just landed in the virtual world without flaw. They had practically become experts at sky diving at night. Their entirely black attire made them almost invisible in the night. With black military helmets on as well, all that could be seen were the faces of the team members. When they were slowly ascending the hillside towards the building, Fox quickly called for the group to halt. He saw something.

Out by the building he could see someone standing by the door they were supposed to go through. The small ember in his hand indicated that he was just out for a smoke break. He didn't appear to be armed. Apparently the program was designed to not be consistent, to help the team practice for any unexpected obstacles.

Panther raised his sniper rifle while saying, "He's mine." But when the feline went to pull the trigger, the gun just made a clicking noise. It was jammed.

Under his breath, Panther said, "Damn it to hell…"

Wolf stepped to his side and said, "Here, give it to me." Panther did so. It was dark, so no one could see exactly what Wolf was doing, but he was clearly fiddling with the rifle in some way. Within a matter of seconds, he cocked the gun and handed it back to Panther.

"There. You're good to go."

The group was slightly taken aback. They all had the quick tutorial as to how to un-jam a gun, but none of them knew how to do it that quickly.

Panther asked, "How did you do that?"

Wolf answered, "I just paid attention I guess. Now are you going to take that guy out or what?"

Without any more hesitation, Panther took aim through his scope, and dropped the person by the door to the ground. Upon seeing the figure collapse, the team moved up to the door. Fox and Wolf continued to their positions around the other sides of the building while Krystal readied the SID on her wrist.

Once the door had opened, Falco, Panther and Zoe all slipped through the door while Krystal stayed outside to guard. The hallway was completely unguarded as expected. A few dim fluorescent lights in the hallway did a poor job lighting the place. The team quickly dropped into formation and moved down the hallway towards the main hangar room. After rounding a few corners, the three had reached the large central room housing the three large cylindrical missiles. Zoe was down on one knee peering about the dim room through her scope while Panther and Falco stayed around the corner.

Panther whispered, "How many are there?"

Zoe replied, "Six. None of them are even moving."

Without another word, Panther dropped to the ground next to Zoe and positioned his rifle. They had already done this enough times to know how the other would act. Zoe went from left to right while Panther went from right to left. They had become good enough to drop everyone in the room in under 10 seconds, before any of the guards could even realize what was happening. This time was no different and each of the six guards had a bullet through their heart before they even heard the muffled gunfire.

Zoe and Falco went to move through the room once all the guards were down. Panther stayed in the same corner to guard the hallway. The two teammates moved together towards the center of the room with guns drawn and without saying a word. When they reached the first missile, Falco stopped while Zoe continued her way towards the opposite hallway.

Falco pulled a small electric drill out of his equipment pack and made short work of the control panel on the first missile. With the innards exposed, he then pulled his knife out of the pack. He preferred his own personal knife from his gang days, but here in the virtual simulator, he couldn't bring it with him. But he was going to make sure to bring it along during the actual mission. He found the thick yellow wire delivering the enzyme into the nuclear core and cut it with a single motion. The liquid started to seep out of the wire and Falco made sure to move the stream onto the floor. In an earlier simulation, he almost electrocuted himself by letting the liquid flow back into the control panel. The only problem he had with letting the liquid onto the floor was that it smelled terrible. He would just have to live with it.

Within a matter of minutes, he had successfully deactivated all three of the missiles. When he was done, he motioned to Zoe that he was finished. The black avian rose up from her kneeling position and ran over to Falco. The two then rejoined with Panther and the small unit made its way back down the hallway that they came in through towards the exit.

After they exited the building, Falco nodded to Krystal indicating that the mission was successful. The blue vixen then used her telepathic ability to let both Fox and Wolf know that it was time to leave the site. While she was doing that, Panther was on the radio back to control to inform them of their success. By the time Fox and Wolf made their way around the building, a blue beam of light was shining in the field they originally landed in revealing the stealth shuttle.

The Gamma Team all made their way back down the hillside towards their escape shuttle. When they reached it, Wolf entered first and hopped into the pilot's seat with Falco in the co-pilot seat. The rest filed into the passenger space in the back. Without thinking at all, the two pilots began the launch procedure and the small craft began to hover above the field below them. As soon as they had enough altitude, Wolf pushed forward on the controls to start the craft moving forward. He made a beeline towards the south, heading back towards friendly ground.

Here in the simulator, the team did not have to worry about the Northern Neotopian radar systems detecting them. Since there was nothing they could do in the event of being found, the training operators found no need to include such a possibility in the simulation. Wolf sped the craft along as fast as it would go towards their landing site in Southern Neotopia. Within a matter of minutes, they were approaching the landing strip designated for their mission. Even though the exit seemed easy now, the whole team knew that this would be the most nerve-wracking part of the whole thing. They could be shot down by anti-aircraft fire within a matter of seconds. It was the only part of the mission left unsure, but there was nothing they could do to improve it. Worst-case scenario, it would be the death of them. But there wasn't much they could do to prevent such an event if it happened.

Once the craft touched down and came to a stop, the digitized world around them faded out into the view of the inside of the simulation helmet. They were successful again, which was to be expected at this point. When the team was done removing the simulation equipment, Creswell was there to greet them by the door. His arms were crossed like normal, but he seemed pleased.

He said, "That was flawless. You guys are certainly ready for this. I almost didn't expect a team of people who hate each other to get ready for a covert mission this quickly."

Panther said, "Well, we put our differences behind us. We know how important this mission is and saw the need for cooperation and tried to get along."

Everyone in the group cringed on the inside. That was total bullshit and they knew it. They were here to get paid, simple as that. None of them cared too greatly about the safety of this random planet far away from their home world. But the answer seemed to satisfy Creswell, so they all stayed quiet.

Creswell said, "Ok then. This is the end of your mission training for now. We're setting the operation into effect in three days and I want you all to rest until then. You can continue to use the gyms and other training equipment, but no more simulations. You all need to be mentally prepared for this as well as physically. Just take the three days to yourselves and take it easy. I'll see you before you depart for Southern Neoptopia to send you off. Take care until then."

After Creswell left the room, Krystal said, "Am I the only one who doesn't like the whole being shot down possibility? I don't like the odds."

Fox was first to respond. "We've faced way worse odds before. Honestly, I'm not too worried about it. A 50/50 chance is optimistic in my book."

Krystal wanted to argue but knew that what he said was true. They had certainly been in worse situations and came out unscathed. All they could do was pull off the mission and hope for the best.

* * *

Later that night, Falco and Zoe were in their living room trying to find something entertaining on the planet's television channels, but failing. They were talking to keep themselves occupied.

Falco said, "So I hope this isn't too personal, but why aren't you seeing anybody? I mean, you've got to have plenty of guys trying to get with you being a former supermodel and all."

Zoe sighed a bit before answering, "Well, as I'm sure you know, the mercenary life doesn't exactly lend itself to dating. All the constant traveling and shit really puts a damper on it. I mean yeah, plenty of guys would want me, but that doesn't mean I would want them. What about you?"

Falco scoffed a bit. "Really? What makes you think I'd be a good candidate to date somebody? I can barely get along with anyone."

Zoe turned herself away from the television to face him. She hugged her knees to her chest before saying, "Well, you're that way for a reason. If you know it's a problem, why do you keep acting that way?"

Falco turned off the television. There was nothing that could hold their interest. "Because if my past has taught me anything, it's that trusting a person before you know they deserve it is a huge mistake. Anyone I've ever been close to just turns on me eventually. I think it's easier to just not get close to anybody than to go through all that bullshit."

Zoe said, "That's pretty cynical of you. What about your team? You seem to be pretty close with them."

"That's completely different. We work together and our lives depend on our ability to trust each other. So if they turn on me, they're as good as dead. I'm talking about dating and stuff. Whenever I get close to someone, it just ends badly. I just don't want to bother with it anymore."

The black avian looked to the floor for a bit before saying, "You know, I read somewhere once that we're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone, but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy."

Falco said, "Oh, I completely agree. But I just choose to abandon trust and love along with it."

"Love is what makes the world go around Falco. As corny as it sounds, it's the truth. Ever notice that it seems to be everybody's life goal to find love?"

Falco couldn't argue with that. "You're probably right. But right now, I'm not ready to love again. I'm just not."

"What the hell happened to get you like this?"

Falco turned his head and looked Zoe in the eye and then said, "Really? More life story time?"

The female avian shrugged. "Sure. Go ahead."

Falco sighed a bit. "Fine then. I never dated anybody from the gang. That just seemed like an awful idea. But when I went into the academy I met a girl named Adrianne. She was an avian girl with red feathers and golden eyes. I'll never forget her. She was the first person who ever seemed to care for me on a level higher than friendship. She was everything to me. She was the first girl I ever kissed, the first girl I ever slept with, and the first girl I ever loved. We barely ever fought. We dated for two years and I was totally in love for every second of it."

He continued, "But on our second anniversary I went to her dorm room to surprise her. I went in with a bouquet of her favorite flowers and a framed picture from our first date. I was greeted by the sight of her being mounted by some other guy. I just lost it. I didn't now what to do. I felt so betrayed. I gave all of myself to her and she just didn't even seem to care. She just went and threw it away by fucking some other guy. I dropped the things I had brought for her and just ran back to my room. I cried for god only knows how long. My heart was completely crushed. I heard her banging on the door and begging for me to let her in. I just couldn't face her. I never wanted to have anything to do with her again. I missed all of my classes for a whole week and barely ate anything. I just couldn't bring myself to leave my room and face the world. I just wanted to give up right there."

Zoe really felt bad for him. He was holding back tears the whole time. She wished that she hadn't even brought it up.

Falco turned to face her with tears welling in his eyes and said, "I had even picked out the engagement ring. I was going to propose the day we graduated from the academy together. That's how in love with her I was."

Falco took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "After that I went the rest of my time at the academy without seeing anybody. Luckily I never ran into Adrianne again after that. I don't even know what I would have done if I did. When I got into the Star Fox life, I started seeing this girl Katt on and off. It was a mistake, really. We just fought with each other all the time. I only started to see her because I didn't want to give up on the premise of love. She only started seeing me because she thought I was hot. It was an empty relationship and nothing more. Then one day we went into our off phase and never went back to on. I've been single ever since. After Adrianne, I just couldn't deal with it."

Zoe wanted to console him and let him know that one person in his past shouldn't distort the way he looked at everybody. But she knew that he would have none of it at the moment. She stayed quiet.

After fully collecting himself, Falco said, "So what about you? How's your love life been?"

Zoe hesitated, "Uhh…pretty shitty really."

Falco couldn't help but laugh a bit. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh."

"No, it's ok. Of course my dad would never let a boy within ten yards of me. Once I started modeling I wouldn't have time for a boyfriend even if I wanted one. I never saw anybody until I went into the academy. I saw this guy Craig for a few months, but it didn't go anywhere. He was a wolf with dark gray fur and seemed to be more into himself than he was to me. I broke it off when I got too annoyed with him. And…that's it. He's the only guy I've ever dated at all. And we barely even kissed."

She paused and Falco said, "So you…"

"Still have my v-card? Yes. I know, surprising isn't it? A fucking supermodel but I can't even find someone willing to sleep with me."

Falco felt a bit bad. "Oh stop. You know plenty of people would kill for the chance. Besides, it's not your fault. You said it yourself, you didn't have time. It probably would happen to anyone in that lifestyle."

She looked to the floor and said, "Yeah you're probably right. But it doesn't make me feel any better about it. I guess we've both just taken to being alone…"

There was an awkward silence. Neither avian was quite sure what to say.

Falco broke the silence, "Well, you shouldn't feel that bad. Once you're done with the merc life I'm sure you'll be fine. You're pretty cool and definitely good looking."

Zoe smiled. "Thanks." She thought for a moment before saying, "I'm sure you'll be well off too. Once you get past your trust issues you'll learn to open up to people."

Falco said, "Yeah, if…"

Another awkward silence followed.

Falco said, "Anyway, I'm going to bed. We've had a long day and I'm freaking tired."

As the blue mercenary got up from the couch Zoe said, "Yeah, I'm probably not far behind you. Good night Falco."

And with that, he went into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Zoe just sat there thinking. There was way more to Falco then she thought before. From what Wolf and Panther had told her, he was just a cocky asshole with an ego problem. But he was definitely deeper than that. It was just a façade he put on because he was insecure. If only others could see it, maybe they would understand. She guessed that nobody knew too much about his background, except for maybe Fox. She was certainly taking a liking to him. But she started questioning exactly how much she was starting to like him. She couldn't decide if he was just becoming a friend or something more than that.

_No, I can't like Falco like that. It would never work. A couple in between Star Fox and Star Wolf? That's ridiculous. We're just getting to know each other is all. I guess people just tend to do that when they live with each other. I'm just glad he didn't turn out to be the arrogant ass everyone made him out to be_.

As Zoe finished her thoughts, she made her way into the bedroom behind her. Opening the door, she looked at Falco's shirtless figure as he lay in bed, not yet fully asleep. She smiled to herself.

_Then again, he is pretty cute…_

**

* * *

A/N: So that's the end of the re-work. Didn't change too much, but there may be some logistical errors that I missed in the translation. If there are, please let me know so I can change them. Also, I'd like some feedback on what you guys think of Zoe as a character. She's going to be an essential part of the plot later so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Feedback on anything else is welcome as well!**

**~CL**


	6. Chapter 6

A rush of air, and everything went silent. The Gamma Team was soaring through the air directly over the North/South Neotopia border and heading straight into enemy territory. So far, everything was going just as they had practiced. All six of them were keeping the same speed and staying together as a group. Within the next minute, the chutes opened and the six mercenaries made their landing in the open field by the hangar housing the three missiles. Still, everything appeared just as it had in the simulator, only now it was for real. They couldn't afford a single mistake, but their hours upon hours of practice had all but put them at home in this field and in this hangar.

Being the first to detach his chute pack and assemble his weapon, Wolf scouted the area around the building through a small scope.

"All clear. No one in sight," he whispered to the others.

After he spoke, the team silently moved their way towards the building. Wolf and Fox branched off and headed towards their respective positions while the other four moved to their point of entry. Krystal started the SID as they moved and already had it ready by the time they made it to the door. Within a few seconds, the door was disarmed and Krystal sent off the remaining three into the building. This was where things were a bit unfamiliar because the F.I.A.'s surveillance could not map the inside of the building. They could only guess what the inside truly looked like, and that was what they had done for the simulation.

But the hallway didn't look drastically different from what their training had dictated. There were only a few closed doors along with a few dim overhead lights to illuminate the path. The three quickly moved down the hall with guns at the ready. When they reached the central hangar room, Panther dropped to his knees in the shadows at the end of the hallway to scope out the room unseen. After a moment, he turned to Falco and Zoe and held up four fingers, indicating four guards. Both of them were surprised; it was less than they were expected to believe. Zoe then dropped to the ground with her rifle at the ready, along with Panther. In just a few seconds, Falco heard four gunshots and the sound of four bodies hitting the ground.

That was all the signal he needed to put the safety back on his handgun, put it into his equipment pack, and unsheathe his knife. It was a keepsake of his from his old gang days. He didn't exactly like to remember that time in his life, but he'd just be lying to himself if he pretended it didn't happen. The knife was cold steel with a coat of black paint, making it truly invisible. The paint prevented any light from being reflected off of the surface, making it all the easier to stay hidden in the shadows. This blade had seen more blood than Falco cared to admit, but it was his best friend back in his youth. It was really the only thing he could trust. Even now, it was one of the few things he cared to put his trust in. Unlike people in his past, the knife had never let him down.

Falco and Zoe moved across the rather dark hangar towards where the large cylindrical missiles were set. Upon reaching the first one, Falco pulled the electric drill out of his equipment pack and began to make short work of the screws on the control panel. Once all four were removed, Falco turned off the drill and removed the panel. He immediately found the bright yellow wire relaying the crucial enzyme to the missile's core. He cut it with his black knife and allowed the liquid to spill onto the floor. As he went to move on to the next missile, he looked up at Zoe positioned at the opposite hallway. Just as he went to begin on the second control panel, he noticed something. A shadow was slowly coming into view in the hallway behind Zoe. She was facing the hangar, and had no idea that something was slowly approaching behind her.

Having no gun readily at his access, all he could do was shout, "Zoe!! Behind you!!!"

Without even thinking, the black falcon leapt up from her position and turned to face her assailant, just as a knife swiped down only inches away from her face. The attacker, who she could now recognize as a military-uniformed, orange-furred fox, quickly lunged towards her, stabbing at her gut. Zoe was caught off guard and didn't react as quickly as she normally would. She went to sidestep the knife, but was too slow. The blade gouged into her flank, crippling her in pain and sending her to the floor. She grabbed at the searing pain in her side and looked up to see the fox standing over her, knife held high over his head for another strike. Terrified, Zoe reached up to shield her face, expecting the worst. But then she heard a sickening 'thunk', and then the sound of a body falling to the floor. She opened her eyes to see the orange fox on the ground with a black-bladed knife protruding from the right side of his chest. Still in pain and shock, she looked over to see Falco running towards her.

"Zoe!" he shouted. "Are you hurt?!"

She was suddenly reminded of the searing pain in her side. "Argh! Yes…" she said rolling over, still gripping her side.

Falco knelt at her side and turned around the hallway the originally came from. "Panther! Get over here!" he shouted. But Panther was already running over to his teammates. The black feline reached them before Falco could even turn back around.

Panther asked, "What the fuck just happened?!"

"She got stabbed. I guess we missed a guard. Listen, get her outside closer to the shuttle. There's radiation pouring out of that missile and I still have to get the other two. Get the hell out of here before you both get poisoning."

"But what about you?" asked Zoe with a labored voice. "If you'll stay you'll get sick too."

"The cord hasn't been cut for that long. It should be fine. I just need to get the other two so we can get the fuck outta here. Panther, grab her and get her out!"

With that, the feline scooped up his bleeding teammate and rushed back in the direction that he came from. Falco grabbed his knife from the corpse nearby and then followed close behind Panther, back toward the missiles. He already had the drill ready when he got there.

"Shit shit shit…" he said to himself as he removed the screws. He knew this was bad. They had to get out quickly because once the missiles were deactivated, the unstable uranium would decay rather quickly. Who knew how fast the radioactive decay was shooting through the room with Falco still in it. He had to work quickly, but efficiently.

Quicker than he ever had in the simulator, Falco removed the control panels off of both missiles and readied his knife. Within the blink of an eye, he had the first yellow cord cut before running over to the other still armed missile. Barely even stopping his dash, he cut the cord, led the liquid to spill onto the floor, and was dashing back towards the hallway he first came from.

Falco was sprinting at this point. He knew that he had to get out because their hitch in the operation gave more time for the radiation to spread throughout the room. Also, the team couldn't leave without him, and Zoe needed help now. Bolting through the hallways, Falco soon made it back to the door through which they infiltrated. He quickly busted through the door and shut it behind him, hoping that the large metal door was made out of a material that would block radioactive particles. He looked to Zoe who was on the ground in pain, her breathing extremely erratic.

"How bad is she?" Falco asked to Krystal who was trying to do what she could to help.

"I don't know! I'm not a medic, you know that. I'm just trying to get this bleeding to stop," she said while holding her own black jacket to the gash in Zoe's abdomen.

Without hesitation, Falco pulled his radio out of his pack and started communication. "Control, this is Gamma. We need that shuttle now, and make sure to have a med unit ready at our landing sight," he said in a calm, but harsh voice.

The voice on the radio responded, "Gamma, repeat. What's your twenty?"

"We're outside the hangar. The mission's done, but we have a man down. Just have a damn med unit ready when we land!" Falco's voice was even harsher.

"Copy Gamma. Shuttle beaming now, contacting landing base."

Falco turned towards the field to see the beam of blue light and their shuttle beginning to materialize within it. Just as he was about to radio Wolf and Fox, assuming that Krystal was too preoccupied to telepathically contact them, they came running around the side of the building at the same time.

Wolf, seeing Zoe on the ground said, "What the fuck happened in there?!"

Falco went to scoop up Zoe while Krystal was still applying pressure to the wound. He carried her in one arm and began applying pressure with his other. Her slim size was definitely an advantage here.

He said, "No time to explain, we have to get her out of here! She needs a medic." And with that, he started rushing off towards the now existent shuttle, Zoe still cradled in his arms. Even with the extra weight, Falco was the first to cross to the field and reach the ship. He climbed into his co-pilot seat and placed Zoe overtop of his lap. He pushed both of his hands down over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding completely.

As the rest of the team entered the shuttle, Falco was saying, "Come on Zoe, hang in there. We're almost to help."

Her breathing was still rather erratic. The bleeding was slowing, but she was still far from fine. It was impossible to tell if the wound had hit anything vital, and they needed to hurry. Having one hand keep pressure on the wound, Falco began his end of the startup sequence. Once he had everything started and Wolf was in full control, he pressed both hands to the still bleeding wound.

Fox, sitting in the back of the small shuttle, heard Krystal's voice chiming into his head.

"_What the hell's gotten into Falco? Am I the only one finding this weird?"_

Getting the hint that Krystal didn't want anyone else to hear the conversation, Fox thought to himself, knowing that Krystal would intercept his words, _"What? We have a wounded team member and he's concerned. What's weird about that?"_

Krystal replied, _"Because he's copiloting this shuttle and taking care of a stab victim at the same time. Why isn't she back here where we can help her?"_

'_He's helping her just fine, Krystal. It doesn't seem too bad and we're on the way to help. What difference does it make?"_

Krystal took a moment before replying. _"I don't know. He just seems really concerned about someone he just met."_

"_Well if I was in there I'd do the same thing. I don't want to see a teammate go down, even if I don't really know them."_

"_Maybe you're right. I don't know, it's just weird._

Everyone but Wolf and Panther seemed to have forgotten about the imminent danger of being shot down. Again, they only had a 50% chance of making if back over the border unnoticed. Wolf's fists were tensing around the controls as he silently prayed for going unnoticed. Panther was equally nervous in the back of the shuttle. He had taken his helmet off and now had his eyes closed, just thinking. It didn't feel like the end to him, but how could he be so sure? He was just trying to put himself at ease and prepare for the worst.

Everything was silent except for the humming of the shuttle's engines, and the pained cries from Zoe. Falco was looking at the wounded falcon trying to will some life into her. He didn't want to see her die, and he was doing everything he could at this point to keep her with him, which unfortunately wasn't much. His hands were covered in her blood, which had begun to saturate the jacket. She had clearly lost a lot of blood and Falco was scared that she wouldn't make it. Her wound had begun to improve but it still wasn't closed. There was no telling how much more blood it would take before she lost her life…

Suddenly, Falco thoughts were broken by the feeling of the ship shaking. He looked up through the windshield to see that the shuttle had landed safely. Wolf was heaving a huge sigh, realizing that they were now definitely safe. Falco had totally forgotten about the imminent danger of the anti-aircraft missiles which would have taken them down in a heartbeat had they been noticed. But at this point he didn't even care. Zoe was still hurt and far from safe. Before the shuttle had even come to a stop, Falco swung the door open on his side of the cockpit and jumped out with the dying falcon in his arms. He spotted the medical personnel a ways off and started rushing towards them. They had already started running towards the shuttle with a gurney, knowing that someone was critically injured. They met halfway across the tarmac and Falco lay her onto the gurney. A red-furred vixen in a white coat started talking to Falco over the noise of the shuttle's engines.

"What happened to her?" she halfway shouted.

Falco replied, "She has a deep stab wound to her right flank. She's lost a ton of blood and I think she's already gone into shock."

The doctor replied, "Alright, we'll take it from here."

With that, she chased after the other EMTs that were already rushing her into the main hangar facility, where there was presumably a medical bay. Falco was just left to stand there alone with Zoe's blood covering his hands, not knowing if it would be the last he ever heard from her…

***

It had been almost a week and no one had heard news of Zoe yet. Grace told them that she was still hospitalized and that they weren't sure how she was going to fare. It was as vague as that. Either they were being kept in the dark, which would just be cruel of the F.I.A. to do, or they really didn't know.

During their briefing the day after arriving back from Southern Neotopia, Creswell told them to just take some time and recover. He wanted the full team before continuing and the next portion of the mission wasn't time critical. They could afford to just take some time and sit back while the turmoil they already created played itself out. Apparently Northern Neotopia placed the blame for their destroyed missiles on a radical world peace organization know for its terrorist acts against their country amongst others. Apparently the group had a history of things like blowing up weapons strongholds and artillery of any sort, so the deactivation of missiles like what Team Gamma had just accomplished was rather commonplace for them. But there wasn't anything to prove who did it one way or the other. Creswell was just glad that they hadn't tried to place blame on the Dubinian government, who was of course responsible for the act.

In light of their temporary leisure time, the team just did what they normally would. They trained, used the flight simulators, and just generally burned time. But Falco didn't join the others during their training sessions. He basically stayed in his now singly occupied room all the time. He slept past noon every day, and usually didn't even leave once he was up. When asked, he blamed feeling ill for his lethargic behavior. Grace feared that he had gotten some radiation sickness from the mission, but a quick visit to the sick bay proved otherwise. From what they could tell, he was in perfect health. They just blamed the tiredness on extended jet lag from flying halfway across the planet and sent him back to his room.

Fox went to visit him after they had already been back a week and his copilot was still acting strange. Fox knocked on his door, but got no response. Knocking a second time and still getting no response, he turned the doorknob to discover that the room was open anyway. Peeking through the door, he saw Falco sitting on the couch wearing just a pair of shorts, what he normally slept in. He was watching TV, and didn't even seem to be enjoying whatever it was he was watching.

Falco turned his head to face Fox slowly and said, "What?"

Fox stood in place, only halfway through the door, when his eyes shot back and forth in awkwardness. "Umm…why didn't you answer when I knocked?"

Falco turned back to the TV and said, "Who said I wanted to talk to you?"

After an awkward silence, Fox said, "How did you even know it was me?"

"Who said I wanted to talk to anyone?"

More awkward silence. Fox wasn't even sure what to say. Eventually, the Captain said, "Dude, are you alright? You haven't left this room for like…days."

Falco sighed in annoyance and flicked off the television. He turned to face Fox and angrily said, "What? I can't just sit in my room and do nothing if I feel like it? I didn't realize we were in the fucking Academy again, Fox."

Fox, becoming offended, finally came all the way through the door and then slammed it behind him. ""What the hell, Falco?! You never just sit in your room and do nothing. You get bored as shit so fast and always have to find ways to occupy yourself. That's why you drive Peppy apeshit when we don't have jobs! You just complain how there's nothing to do! Why are you getting so defensive all of a sudden?"

Falco raised his voice to match Fox's. "Well now I just don't feel like it, alright?! Get the fuck out of my room and leave me alone if all you're going to do is bitch!" Falco said as he pointed to the door.

Fox crossed his arms and said, "Look, I have no idea what's up with you right now, but if you don't shape the hell up before the next part of this mission, you're fucking off this team, alright?! If you think for a second I'm going to put up with this shit you've got another thing coming!"

Falco was getting even angrier and now stood up from the couch and walked over to Fox. "You don't have the authority to do that! I'm not working for you right now, I'm working for this random government that hired us! I'm not going anywhere unless they say so, and with the way I saved Zoe's ass back there, I'd bet you anything that I'm not going anywhere, pal."

Fox stepped forward until the two were face-to-face. "Guess what! I'm still the commanding officer of Star Fox and if I say so, you're gone! They hired Star Fox, not Falco Lombardi. I can kick you off this team anytime I fucking want to, and at the rate you're going, that's in about ten seconds. I don't deal with this shit Falco."

The two were about an inch away from each other giving a menacing stare. Falco didn't know how to respond because he knew Fox was right. He was Falco's commanding officer, and it was his call. He was just so pissed at this point, but tried to hold his tongue. He couldn't afford to part from Star Fox again. He didn't have the money or the means to sustain a living on his own.

After a long pause, Falco broke his stare and looked across the room. Fox said in a low voice, "Listen, I don't know what's up, but I know you're pissed. Sort things out, and come talk to me. I'll leave you alone 'til then." Their eyes met again. "You'd have to really, really piss me the fuck off for me to kick you off this team. You're my best friend Falco. Talk to me if you need me."

With that, Fox turned around and headed for the door. He was secretly wishing for Falco to stop him and tell him what was wrong, but no such words came. Fox reached the door, exited, and closed it behind him without anything else said between the two. He had no idea what was wrong, and it was really bugging him how upset Falco was. Fox leaned back against the door and sighed. He just hoped Falco sorted things out before it would hurt the mission.

Inside the room, Falco just stood there staring at the door. He wanted to tell Fox what was making him act so harshly, but the truth of the matter was that he didn't even know. He wasn't sure why he felt so badly lately. He just felt generally upset for no obvious rhyme or reason. He looked to the floor, going over the confrontation again in his head. He felt bad for yelling at Fox like that, but he knew that his Captain understood to some degree. He just wished he could sift through things in his own mind and get back to normal.


	7. Chapter 7

Falco was rudely awaken by the sound of the intercom buzzing in his room. He refused to move from his spot in bed and was hoping that whoever was calling him would just give up. But no such luck, the annoying sound droned on. He just lay in bed for a while listening to the sound of the monotonous buzzing. Falco opened his eyes and stared over at the obnoxious speaker on the wall and the red blinking light. He just kept staring, just wishing that it would either stop or answer itself. After a solid amount of time of being thoroughly annoyed, he gave up and realized whoever was paging him was just as stubborn. Grumbling to himself, Falco got out of bed and slowly walked over to the small speaker across the room.

Pressing the button, he sighed and said, "What."

Grace answered from the other line. "You're needed in the briefing room. Creswell wants to go over the next part of the mission with your team."

Falco groaned. "What the hell. Why so damn early? I feel exhausted."

Grace paused before saying, "Umm…it's 12:30 in the afternoon, Mr. Lombardi."

Falco didn't have a handy response, so he just said, "Fine. I'll be there in a bit."

And with that, the call was cut off. As soon as the light on the com system went dim, something jarred Falco's thoughts. Weren't they told that the next stage wouldn't go on until the entire team had been reassembled? His mind raced, trying to come up with a plausible reason for the briefing. Zoe hadn't come back to their room yet, so where was she? Falco's eyes widened as he thought the worst.

He said to himself, "Oh my god…she can't be dead…"

Falco immediately rushed over to his closet and sloppily dressed himself. Once he was decent, he darted out of the room and towards the briefing room where he was hoping to find some answers. His mind was racing the entire way. Had one of his crewmembers really just died in his own arms? The thought made him want to wretch. He felt like he was responsible because he had noticed the man with the knife too late. If he had just looked over sooner he could have seen the attack coming and warned Zoe.

Falco rushed through the halls, mind racing. He couldn't help but think the worst as he darted around corners, almost running into to people on several occasions. As soon as he got to the door he stopped dead in the doorframe expecting to see Creswell, and he was ready to get some answers. But when he looked into the room, all he saw was a familiar black falcon sitting alone at the conference table.

Falco just stood there barely able to believe what he was seeing. He had managed to convince himself that she was really dead and he didn't know how to react with her now in front of him. Zoe had put a smirk on her face in the time that Falco had been stupefied and standing there.

Eventually she said, "Are you even gonna say hi?"

Falco shook his head to break his trance. He stepped forward to take a seat across the table from her and said, "Oh my god, you're ok…"

Zoe laughed a bit. "Not quite." She lifted up her tank top to show a huge bandage wrapping her entire abdomen. "I'll be out of commission for a while. Apparently he hit my inferior mesenteric vein, or some gibberish like that. I don't know, the doc just said it fucked me up pretty good. Also said if whoever had me in the shuttle didn't apply as much pressure as they did I'd be dead…"

Falco replied, "I'm sure it wasn't that bad. He was probably just exaggerating."

Zoe said, "I was bleeding like a motherfucker, Falco. You saw me."

There was an awkward silence when Falco wasn't sure what to say. He averted his eyes to the table.

After a moment, Zoe said, "Falco, I owe you my life. And don't even give me that bullshit that it was part of the mission. I don't even know how to thank you…"

Falco looked up from the table into her bright emerald eyes. The look she gave him wasn't the hard-edged soldier he was used to, but a softer, more vulnerable expression.

The blue falcon felt a bit awkward with her looking at him that way, so he said, "Don't look at me like that. I never leave a man behind, and just because you're on Star Wolf doesn't mean you're any different."

Zoe's expression didn't change. She said, "Falco, stop. I was going to fucking die and you saved me. I was conscious the whole time. You went nuts about trying to keep me alive, and in all honesty that's what saved me."

There was another awkward silence. Had this been a few years in the past Falco would have been all smiles and had issues being modest. But nowadays he tried to lie low more and didn't like the limelight. He wasn't sure what to say in response.

At that moment, the rest of the Gamma Team walked into the room for the meeting. Panther was speaking as soon as they walked in.

"Finally, I thought this mission would never go on. I'm getting bored as shit around this place."

Wolf stopped and turned to the black feline with a scowl on his face. "What the hell Panther, Zoe almost died you insensitive dick." Wolf turned to Zoe, his tone changing. "How are ya feeling?"

Zoe replied, "Been better, but I'll make it."

"Good to hear," said Creswell suddenly appearing in the doorway. "Even though I'd love to sign one less paycheck I'm glad this mission is still set to be successful."

No one was quite sure how to respond to that, so the team just took their respective seats and waited for Creswell to start speaking. Falco looked at Zoe again to see her staring at the floor, her thoughts elsewhere. She still seemed really shaken and he wondered if she would be able to operate the same way. He would be the first to tell you that a stab wound takes you out of commission for a while, but she seemed more distracted than that. Maybe it was an injury more serious than she was used to. Either that, or something else was weighing on her mind. Falco wasn't about to speculate, so he turned his attention to Creswell at the front of the room.

Once he had taken his place at the podium in front of the conference room, the wolf started to speak. "Now that phase one has gone down successfully, we can start to move on to the next step. This is certainly going to be much more difficult, for one because I know none of your backgrounds suggest any type of work like this, and two because I essentially have little to no leads for you. In case you forgot, I need you to prove LPD's association with the Northern Neotopian government and find tangible evidence that they were the ones who sold them the missiles."

Fox interjected, "Wait, what do you mean you have little to no leads? Weren't those things based off the exact blueprints from that company?"

Creswell answered, "Well yes, but that's not exactly proof of anything. If we try and pursue litigation in the international courts, LPD would just argue that North Neotopia either built them with unauthorized use of their design, or simply created them on their own. We need to see to it that they're punished for the fact that they violated international law by selling arms to a completely unstable country specifically mentioned in said laws. That's why I need you to go find some proof, because otherwise we have no means for such prosecution."

Fox said, "So…what are we even supposed to do?"

Creswell paused awkwardly before saying, "Well…I guess you're going to have to get creative. The thing about their CEO Malveaux is that he doesn't exactly care who he may end up hurting, so his company does a lot of shady underground arms dealings. Now of course we can't prove any of this either, but we know a few people that we believe are being supplied directly by the company itself to deal in the black market within the city of Bayuex, which is where LPD's headquarters is located. These are the people we think you're going to have to deal with to get to the heart of LPD's operations. Now we couldn't care less if you prove their dealings with the black market, all we want here is proof of sale of those missiles. Now I seriously doubt any of these random weapons dealers know about these missiles, but if anything they'll help you get to the heart of the company."

Creswell held up a manila folder from behind the podium. "These are the people I'm talking about and everything we know about them…which unfortunately isn't much," Creswell said as he handed the file to Krystal who was sitting closest to him. "Use this info how you can, and just try and find out as much as possible."

Krystal had begun going through the file and had a steadily growing confused look on her face as she did so. She said, "Are you sure this is right? These people seem weird for weapons dealers. A pharmacist, a brewery owner, a…fashion designer…are you kidding? Why would any of these people need to deal weapons on the side?"

Creswell turned to her and rather condescendingly said, "Well I don't know Krystal, maybe they're just fucking bored or something. Does it really matter? We just know that they are, so figure it out."

Krystal frowned and said, "I was just saying…geeze…"

Creswell turning his attention back to the whole room said, "Regardless, I'd start your searching here. These few people are the only ties we know of to LPD. And for better or worse their ties are pretty loose. We'll be sending you out to the city whenever Snyder is finished recovering. Sahrania is actually our political ally, and they have a similar facility in that country where you're going to stay while you're there."

Wolf chimed in, "Isn't it kind of a bad idea to stay in a government facility while trying to deal with weapons dealers? I mean that'll probably kill our credibility."

Creswell became a bit agitated again. "Well if you have a better idea, then go for it. I won't be there to keep tabs on you anyway so I guess it doesn't really matter. Now what exactly would you suggest?"

Wolf, slightly offended by Creswell's tone said, "I would suggest something a bit more inconspicuous seeing as how we're going to be knee-deep in the black market, evidently, and living in a government building just doesn't exactly bode well for our own personal safety, now does it."

Creswell responded, "Again, if you can come up with something better, then just do it, I don't really care. I just doubt that you really have any other options given your lack of any form of currency accepted on this planet."

Wolf crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "You know, that could be very easily changed seeing as how we're working for what you say is one of the most wealthy nations on this planet."

Creswell said, "Well seeing as there is a much more economical solution, I'm going to just go with that one." Wolf didn't know what to say and just scoffed a bit, annoyed that Creswell seemingly discounted his opinion entirely. "Just keep your shit on the down low, and no one's gonna find out you're working for me."

The wolf behind the podium moved towards the door while saying, "I'll let you know when you're scheduled to depart. Snyder, get to the sick bay so we can get another estimate on your recovery speed." And with that, he left the room.

Once Creswell was out of earshot, Zoe said, "Did he just tell us to 'keep our shit on the down low'? What does that even mean?"

Panther said, "It means he's a douche, basically."

Fox said, "Oh come on. What does it matter anyway, really? I mean no one's gonna know where we live, it's no big deal."

Panther responded, "That's not what I'm worried about. I'm just getting annoyed with how he talks to us. It's like he's being an asshole on purpose."

Fox said, "I don't even care. I mean let's just get this job over with, get our checks, and then it's done. It doesn't matter if the guy signing them is a tool or not, the bank's gonna cash it anyway."

Zoe said, "As much I agree with you Panther, Fox is right. Just hold your tongue so he doesn't dock our pay. We need as much as he's gonna give us." The black falcon want to stand up and said, "Well I better get to the med bay so we don't piss off Creswell even more."

As she walked towards the door, she was slightly doubled over, clearly in pain. Falco stood up from his chair and walked over to her. "Here, let me help you," he said putting her arm over his shoulder, taking on some of her weight. "Last thing we need is you getting fucked up more just walking around."

Zoe playfully elbowed Falco in the side as they walked. "Oh shut up, I'm tougher than you are asshole."

Falco laughed. "Oh really? What, you want to fight? Come on, I'll take you right now."

Zoe scoffed. "Oh yeah, beat up a girl with a fucking gash in her side, that'll prove how tough you are."

Falco just laughed as they walked off down the hall towards the medical wing.

Back in the conference room, Wolf laughed to himself after watching the two walk out of the room. "Well, they're cute together."

Krystal said, "What, think they're a thing now?"

Panther interjected, "Oh fuck no, she'd never go for a dick like him."

Wolf said, "Oh come on Panther, you're just pissy cuz she didn't go for your rose-in-the-teeth shit."

Panther, taken aback, said, "What? No, that's not it at all. I just know both of them, that'd never happen."

Fox said, "Dude, you don't know Falco at all. You two are always just busy shouting at each other."

Panther didn't have a response and just stayed quiet. Wolf said, "I just think it's funny. I mean seriously, who'd ever think A Star Fox and Star Wolf member would ever get along so well? Shit's crazy."

Fox laughed a bit. "You're right, it is nuts. Well it doesn't matter. As long as it doesn't screw up the mission at all, I couldn't really care less what they do."

* * *

Zoe was on a bed in the medical wing waiting to be examined while Falco sat across the room. The wait had already been a good amount of time, but neither really noticed because they had been happily talking the whole time. Falco was just happy to know she was healthy after her stabbing and Zoe was just glad to be back at all.

Zoe said, "So that's they don't let me cook anymore, cuz they're afraid I'll burn the whole ship down or something."

Falco laughed. "Wow, I didn't even know it was possible to start a fire making grilled cheese."

Zoe shook her head and said, "Me neither. I had no idea that butter substitute we use was so flammable."

The two just laughed and enjoyed each other's company. Zoe said, "I'm really glad you didn't turn out to be the dick Wolf and Panther made you out to be. I really thought it was going to be miserable working with you, and especially living in the same room."

The blue falcon said, "Well they're not exactly my best friends you know. But I'm not gonna lie, I was an arrogant tool a lot of the time, still can be. They weren't lying to you."

Zoe said, "Well it's good you're not. But what changed?"

Falco paused for a moment before answering. "I don't know, I guess I've just toned it down lately. I guess I just got tired of people being consistently annoyed by my ego. Doesn't exactly bode well for getting along with people you know?"

"Well in my experience people just don't change like that because they feel like it…"

Falco didn't say anything and just stared to the floor. He didn't really like talking about the way he used to be, and now he felt awkward about it.

Zoe broke the silence. "What happened?"

"What do you mean what happened?"

"I mean what changed you. You didn't just decide to get rid of your ego one day."

Falco kept his eyes averted to the floor. "I don't really like to talk about it."

Zoe didn't want to push the issue, but couldn't help but to be seriously curious. "Well we've already shared a lot about each other…what's a bit more."

Falco didn't want to be difficult, and it was something he wanted to get off his chest to some degree. Still looking to the floor, he sighed and said, "Fine, but keep this to yourself."

Zoe nodded. Falco started, "Fox and I haven't always seen eye to eye on things. Hell, we still don't. He's my best friend, don't get me wrong, but we fight a lot. Usually we just argue with each other. He says things, I say things, we cool off, it's fine. But this one day a while back, we really got into it. Basically I acted the way I always did: arrogant, obnoxious, a giant ass. I said some things I seriously regret, and Fox did not take it well at all. We got in this massive fight, and no one was around to stop it. It wasn't just a shouting match this time though, we tried to pretty much kill each other. He completely shattered my jaw and broke three of my ribs. I had my mouth wired shut for months. I destroyed his eye socket and Fox couldn't see out of that eye for just as long. I also broke his femur clean in half. I fucking broke his femur, that's like impossible. It wasn't just a fight, we were out for blood. Peppy yelled at me for an hour straight, and since I couldn't talk I just sat there and took it. I guess he really got to me, and I had plenty of recovery time to think about what happened. I felt totally responsible for it, and I felt like absolute shit afterwards. I couldn't even apologize to Fox because my jaw was wired shut. We didn't speak literally for months. I completely attacked my best friend, and it was probably the shittiest thing by far I've done in my life."

The blue falcon continued staring at he floor, not wanting to face up. She could tell that he felt really badly about the entire situation. Eventually she said, "If you don't mind…what were you even fighting about?"

"It was a little while after he and Krystal became official. We were just sitting around and he was talking about how much he liked her. I didn't really like Krystal when we first met, and I was probably more vocal about it than I should've been. I told Fox I thought she was a raging whore who would just fuck him and then leave once she was bored. Well that made him mad and he got defensive about it. I just kept egging him on, saying things like maybe it wasn't so bad because he could just do her and be done with it since she'd probably dump him eventually anyway. He just kept getting more and more angry but I didn't really care. What finally set him off was when I said I wanted in on the action cuz she was hot. I told him he could have the front, I'd take the back, and when we were done we'd just dump her back on the jungle planet we found her on. Then he punched me in the face…and I punched back…"

There was an awkward silence as Falco's words tapered off. Zoe just stared at him with a surprised expression while he stared at the floor still.

"Wow Falco…"

"I know, it was horrible. Not my proudest moment…"

Zoe smiled and said, "Well it goes to show how good of friends you are. Even after that you guys are still really tight."

Falco laughed a bit. "Yeah, I thought he was an idiot for forgiving me. Glad he did though, else I'd be out of a job."

He stood up out of his chair and walked towards the door. "I'm gonna head back to the room and make some food. I'll make extra for you for when you're done here…if that fucking doctor ever even shows up," he said looking out down the hallway.

Zoe said, "I'm sure it can't be that much longer. It's fine."

Falco turned around and said, "Yeah probably. Well see ya when you get back."

Zoe waved as he walked out the door. She thought to herself about what she just heard.

_There's really so much more to him than I thought. Guess I can't blame him for being a bit cynical though, his past has sucked. Oh well, at least he turned out to be a good guy in the end…_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So I finally got an update in. I know I'm terrible at being timely with these chapters, but it really can't be helped. I'm a terribly busy person and this project has to take a backseat a lot of the time. But I won't ever forget about it until it's finished, so please don't lose faith in me. Just don't necessarily expect updates to be all that quick.**

**And as always, any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated.**

**~CL**

* * *

Time passed, Zoe healed, and before they knew it, the Gamma Team was suited up and ready to head off towards Sahrania and the headquarters of LPD. They were taking their own ships in case they needed them for any part of the mission. Creswell gave the coordinates of the new base to Fox for them to use during the mission abroad. Right before they were about to set off, Fox was underneath his Arwing tuning things up when he heard footsteps approaching. He turned his head to the side to see a pair of combat boots walking towards him, followed by the all too familiar face of Wolf crouching down to meet him.

"You got those coordinates already, right?" asked the grey pilot.

Fox set his wrench down as he rolled himself from under his ship and sat up. "Yeah I already have 'em tuned into the ships. Why?"

Wolf held up a piece of paper between his two forefingers. "Fuck 'em. This is where we're going."

Fox cocked an eyebrow. "Say what? Where else would we be going?"

Wolf leaned back from his crouch and sat down, resting his elbows on his knees. "Remember in the briefing when boss told us we could go anywhere we like? Well, I found us a better place to lay low. I mean really, how smart is it to live in a government barracks when we're trying to be undercover? It's completely retarded."

Fox nodded and said, "Yeah I can't agree more. Sometimes I feel like that guy doesn't think stuff through. Either that or he's just an awful strategist. Whatever. Where is it anyway?"

Wolf replied, "Some motel I found on the outskirts of town. Inconspicuous enough to work for me."

Fox agreed, "Yeah sounds good. Did you tell the others yet?"

Wolf shook his head. "No. I wanted to go over it with you first before making it all official."

Fox was slightly taken aback. "Go over it with me? What do you mean?

Wolf said, "Well you're the other officer on this mission. I figure we should be on the same page about things, you know?"

Fox still had a bit or a surprised look on his face. Wolf laughed a bit and said, "What, is it really that weird?"

Fox shook his head. "No, you're right. It's just…you're fucking Wolf O'Donnell. We're supposed to hate each other," he said laughing a bit.

Wolf answered, "I know what you mean. But seriously, I respect you more than any other pilot out there. Not only that, but your as in charge of this mission as I am. So I wasn't about to just take it upon myself to drastically change the whole operation like that."

Fox's eyes went wide and then he looked at Wolf, even more surprised than before. The grey mercenary chuckled a bit and said, "Weird huh? I mean, you're the only one who's ever really beaten me out. I respect you for what you're able to do. Before I thought I was supposed to hate you because we were hired on different sides of the same war. But…that really wasn't either of our faults. It was just who paid us. I never really had anything against you personally, you just somehow always ended up on the other side."

They both sat there in silence for a moment, before Fox rubbed his neck and said, "Well shit Wolf, never thought I'd hear that. But I appreciate it…"

Wolf answered, "Well, figured I'd clear the air. Better now than later I guess. Even though the mission is basically half over, but…oh well."

Fox smiled and said, "So you respect me more than your own team? Even Panther?"

Wolf tersely replied, "Especially Panther. God damn. I mean he's good at what he does, but I wouldn't trust him further than I can throw him."

Fox laughed. "Well thanks, Wolf. Maybe you're not the raging dick I thought you were."

Wolf rolled his eyes, standing up. " Gee thanks," he said turning and walking towards his own ship. "Just don't start going soft on me because of this little heart-to-heart. I'm sure it won't be long before we're on opposite sides of the same war again."

Fox thought for a moment, then shook his head, standing up next to his ship. He hopped in the cockpit and reprogrammed the coordinates, not even thinking twice about what kind of an idea it was to head off to this new, somewhat random place that Wolf had found.

* * *

The flight went without a hitch. It took a few hours with the planet being much larger than any of them had anticipated, and the country they were now in being on the polar opposite side of it. The fleet had just rolled their ships into a nearby commercial hangar, which was heavily populated with other ships.

Zoe was the first out of her Wolfen, and she was now on the hangar floor stretching out her back.

She groaned, "God damn, that flight was murder. Can't even remember the last time I flew that long."

Fox jumped out onto the wing of his Arwing and said, "Yeah well that's what happens when you got air traffic control. Can't run around at hyper speeds like usual. Shit sucks, I hear ya."

Before anyone even noticed, Wolf was walking away from the group towards the hangar's exit. Once he was already a good distance away but not yet out of the building, Fox, who was still standing on the wing of his Arwing, noticed him and was about to shout over to him until he thought better about yelling across a crowded hangar.

He jumped down from the wing to meet the others on the hangar floor.

Just as Fox was walking up, Falco said, "I really hope this place is as nice as where we just were. Hopefully all government barracks are spruced up on this planet."

Fox chimed in, "We're not going there anymore."

The other four pilots all shot their mildly surprised gazes at him. Krystal said, "Say what? Where the hell are we going then?"

Fox answered, "I'm not totally sure. Wolf said he found some place around here."

Panther tersely replied, "Are you kidding? Just some random place on a planet we don't know? That's a horrible idea!"

Fox's eyes narrowed as he said, "This is supposed to be an undercover mission. I'm not about to post up with the government and blow the whole damn thing because of it. It's just a motel. Chill the fuck out."

Panther stepped forward angrily towards the opposing captain. "Hey, don't tell me to chill. Sorry if I think it's retarded to just do our own thing on a completely foreign planet. I think we need to follow Creswell's lead on this and not go off doing random shit."

Fox sternly answered, "All well and good, but that's not your call. It's mine. And if you don't like it, then you can get the hell out of my face and go back in Lylat to find your own damn job."

Panther inched even closer and pointed his finger into Fox's chest. "Hey, don't talk to me like that. I don't work for you and you fucking know it no matter what title you have right now. As soon as this job is over, we're right back to trying to kill each other."

Fox smacked Panther's hand off of him, pointing at the feline's face in return and raising his voice said, "Great. But for now, you better chill because I am not about to deal with your bullshit the whole time we're here. I am really sick of how you've been acting this whole time we've been here." Fox threw his hands up. "You hate working with me, I get it. But guess what! We're a team right now and you better calm the hell down before I do something you're going to regret."

Panther opened his mouth to go off, but Zoe stepped in between the two before he could say anything. Facing Panther, she somewhat harshly said, "Hey, let's go outside and get some air. Sounds like that long flight made you cranky." And with that she pushed him away lightly and started to steer him by the shoulders towards the hangar exit.

Once they were out of earshot, Fox threw his hands up and slapped them against his thighs. "What the hell is wrong with him? Doesn't he get it that we need to get along if this is ever going to work out?"

Falco crossed his arms and shook his head. "Yeah, Zoe told me he's still pissed about working with us. He thinks it would've been better for Creswell to just hire them and forget about us altogether."

Fox said, "Well if he doesn't keep that to himself I'm really about to crack his arm or something so he can't work with us even if he did want to. Shit."

Krystal stepped over to him, putting her hand on his shoulder and lightly said, "Calm down Fox. He's not worth it to get that upset over. Just put up with it for a bit longer and you won't have to worry about it."

Fox sighed. "You're right. He just got to me, that's all," he said as he lightly smiled at her.

Falco saw the two lock gazes and rolled his eyes. "_Oh lord, here we go_," he thought to himself as he turned and also headed towards the hangar exit. Being away from the rest of the team and just with those two was making him gradually more annoyed. He couldn't stand being around them when they got into lovey-dovey mode as he referred to it in his own mind.

As Falco made his way outside, he looked around at the surroundings. The hangar was in a somewhat isolated area outside of the main city and was surrounded by grassy areas with patches of woods. He saw Zoe and Panther off in the distance towards the highway, seemingly yelling at each other. Falco smiled to himself, glad that she was tired of his behavior too. Looking around further, he noticed that Wolf was nowhere to be seen around the hangar.

* * *

"It's been a long time O'Donnell. A damn long time. Never thought I'd see you in this part of the system again," said the calico feline from the driver's seat with a thick French accent. "And at the same time, I never thought it would be you asking me for help as opposed to the other way around."

Wolf paused for a long while, looking out the window at the passing landscape. He eventually answered, "Yeah, can't say I thought any different. Can't really say I ever wanted to end up back here either…"

The calico laughed abruptly before taking a long drag of his cigarette. "Who ever does. I've been trying to get off this piece of shit rock for years, but I keep getting dragged back." He averted his eyes off the road for a moment and turned to Wolf. "Your friends have absolutely no idea what they're getting into, do they?"

Wolf didn't make eye contact and looked straight ahead while shaking his head. "Not a bit. They've never even heard of this place."

The feline looked back the road and answered, "Well this should be fun then. As you so kindly told me the first time you were here, this is a pretty fucked up place. Think they can handle it?"

The thickly accented words rang around Wolf's head for a good amount of time while he formulated a response. "I think they'll be fine. They've all been around the block before."

The calico in the driver's seat laughed before saying, "That's what you told me before we worked together last time, remember? And if you recall, that didn't prove to be so true."

Wolf sighed and said, "Yeah well that was then. I didn't know what real shit was. These people are gonna be fine, you'll see."

The feline scoffed as he put his hand on the top of the steering wheel, "You better not be kidding. If you're really trying to take down that motherfucker Malveaux, then you're going to need some serious manpower to do it."

"Just fuckin' drive, Bernard. Don't worry yourself about it," Wolf answered harshly.

The feline shook his head as he took another drag of his cigarette. "Just trying to make sure you're not getting in over your head again. I'd hate to see a good man die because of something like that."

Wolf quickly replied, "Stop trying to flatter me. I'm no good man, you know that."

Bernard propped his elbow up on the driver's side windowsill and said, "Compared to the rest of the people around here, you're a fucking saint. Have you forgotten already?"

Wolf looked out his window at the city skyline a short ways off in the distance. "How could I ever?"

The coupe sped on towards the city that every fiber of Wolf's being screamed at him to turn away from. But he kept his composure, and turned to take a cigarette out of Bernard's pack in the center console.

The calico looked at him questioningly and asked, "You smoke?"

While lighting the cigarette, Wolf answered, "I do now. Like you said, I didn't know what real shit was before. Been around the block more than I care to since then."

Bernard shook his head slowly. "I know you have…I know…"

Silence fell between the two as the car continued to approach the city, both of them cycling through their own memories and trying to put together what was sure to come.


	9. Chapter 9

Five of the planet's newcomers sat on the subway, eyeing the screen above the door showing the stops. Wolf had called earlier and told them to meet him in the city, which caught them all by surprise. No one except Fox had even realized that he left the hangar when he called the other captain out of nowhere and told him where to go. There had been an awkward silence amongst the group since they had boarded the train.

Panther was the first to speak up, "I'm going to kill him. I'm seriously going to kill him."

Zoe, sitting across the train but facing him, facepalmed and said, "Oh Jesus Christ…"

Panther went on, "Seriously, he is so retarded if he thinks that we can just show up on this planet and start blindly trusting people. I mean, what if this 'new friend' of his is a serial killer or…or some neurotic drug addict," he said waving his hands, "I'm not about to step into something like that. I'm just not."

Fox, sitting in the row behind Panther, kept his arms crossed and tersely replied, "I think Wolf is smart enough to not make friends with crackheads or psychopaths. He's been at this a little longer than any of us. I trust his judgement."

"Yeah well, you never had to work with Leon," Panther said as he started to raise his voice, "To this day, I cannot understand why he hired that little fucker."

Fox answered, "Probably cuz he's one of the best mercs who's ever been on the scene. Sure, he had a screw loose…or two…"

Falco interrupted from his seat next to Fox, "Are you kidding? Try he had all his screws loose. His whole head was unbolted, dude."

Fox scoffed, "Yeah, well…no comment. But still, he's one of the best pilots there is. Can't say I'd hire him myself…but I get it."

Panther cocked his head a bit and laughed to himself. "Are you falling in love with Wolf or something? I swear, since we've been here it's like you two are best friends or something."

Fox lowered his eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"With the history of you two, I thought we couldn't keep you from going at it. Instead it's me and this jerkoff who are trying to kill each other," he said punching Falco in the arm.

Falco reacted immediately by shoving the feline back and thrusting his middle finger directly in his face. "Don't touch me you little shit. I already want to tear you apart enough, don't push it."

Panther moved to stand up with his mouth open and finger pointed right at Falco, but Zoe moved in between them to shove Panther back down. She said, "Oh no, don't even start this shit again." She whipped around to face Falco, an angry expression on her face. "And don't you start either." She turned between the two and harshly said, "I am not about to get killed because two guys on my team are too busy fucking each other up instead of doing the mission we were assigned! Now if you guys would be so kind, just chill the fuck out and lay off."

There was another awkward silence after Zoe finished. Falco looked to the ground while Panther just looked away from the group shaking his head. The black avian lowered her hands and turned around back to her seat, when a soft tone sounded indicating the arrival at the next stop. She looked up to the sign above the door.

"This is our stop," she said walking out the sliding door, "Let's go find Wolf."

* * *

The five rode up the escalator from the subway platform to the surface of Bayeux, taking in the limited city atmosphere they could at the moment. The people seemed no different than from their own lives on Corneria, and they blended in well. The top of the escalator approached, and the daylight became gradually brighter as they rose to the surface.

As they disembarked from the top of the escalator, they took in the massive buildings around them. They were seemingly made entirely of glass and as high as any building in Corneria. Overall, the city wasn't too drastically different than what they were used to, except the technology seemed a bit behind. The cars in the streets were wheel-based and on the ground as opposed to hovering vehicles that were becoming all the rage back on their planet, and people were walking around on cell phones as opposed to using wrist communicators that they were now used to. But the city was just as crowded and busy as what they were used to, with people moving every direction on the sidewalks and the traffic as chaotic and congested as the streets of Corneria City. They were all taking in the surroundings when Wolf stepped up them from the corner.

"Glad to see you made it alright," the grey pilot said with a stern face.

Panther stepped forward, still a bit steamed from a few minutes before. "Care to explain what we're doing here? And who this new random-ass person is that you met?"

Wolf sighed and said, "Yeah I supposed that sounds a bit weird." He paused to collect his thoughts. "Guy's name is Francois Bernard, goes by Bernard. He's a local around here who apparently got in deep with some of the black market trading this place is known for. He sat next to me on the subway while I was headed for the motel I was talking about earlier. We just started talking and before I even told him my name really, he gave me this whole story about how this Malveaux guy and his company ruined him and everything he had. I won't go into it, but it seemed pretty bad. I think he just wanted someone to talk to," he said shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, I told him that I was doing an investigation to try and take the company down, and his face lit up like nothing I've ever seen. I gave him a brief, yet vague enough description of what we were up to, and he told me he wanted to do anything and everything he could to help."

Fox cut in, "Wait, you told him about the mission? Didn't you think that might blow our cover?"

Wolf replied, "Seriously, he gave me this life-shattering story before I even told him what I was doing in the city. He had no way of knowing what we were doing, and he told me all about it anyway. I really don't think he's up to anything. You didn't see this guy. He has so much rage about this guy and this company that he'd be on anyone's side to go against him."

Zoe said, "Well great…but how is this changing anything? What did this guy offer to you?"

"A house," the grey canine replied.

"A house?" Zoe asked in surprise.

"A house. Said he has this old place he's been trying to rent. He said if we were for real, he'd let us stay there for free while we're working."

The whole group seemed skeptical. Krystal said, "Wolf, are you sure? How do we know we can trust this guy. I mean, you met him on the subway at random."

Wolf answered, "Seriously, wait until you meet him. You'll understand." Wolf turned to walk down the sidewalk. "Come on, he only lives two blocks from here."

Still skeptical, the others followed behind, dodging pedestrians in the crowd.

Wolf rounded the street corner with everyone close behind.

"Alright, here we are. This is where he told me to go."

Right around the corner, a calico feline with splotches of white, orange, and black in his fur sat on the stoop of the closest door. He was dressed casually in blue jeans and a light canvas bomber jacket. He also wore a black cabby hat, in which he had a cigarette tucked against his head. He took it out and began to light it just as he noticed Wolf approaching him out of the corner of his eye.

Not standing up from the stoop, he reached his hand out to greet Wolf. "Good to see you again, my friend," he said around his cigarette with his thick French accent. "I take it these are your friends you told me about."

Wolf nodded and individually introduced his team. "Everyone, this is Bernard, the man I told you about earlier."

Bernard smiled and said, "Pleasure's all mine, I assure you." The feline looked over the mercenaries in a somewhat judging manner as he took a hit from his cigarette

Panther spoke first. "Sorry if this is rude, but why should we trust you? I mean, you met Wolf an hour ago and now you're letting us live in your house? Kind of weird to me."

Krystal turned her head to him and quietly said, "That's not exactly polite…"

Bernard cut in, "I don't mind, really. I know this is probably weird for all of you, so I'll just say to you what I said to Wolf."

There was an awkward silence as Bernard averted his eyes to the ground and took a long drag from his cigarette. "That son of a bitch Malveaux ruined me. I used to work for him in the black market here in Bayeux. The infrastructure of this thing is like nothing you've ever seen. The weapons dealing is just a fraction of the whole thing. This city is fucked up beyond anything you could possibly imagine." Anger started to creep up in his voice. "The people who run everything are smart, really fucking smart. The police can't touch them. In this whole operation, there is a figurehead for every 'department'," he said making air quotes, "And Malveux is on top of the weapons department."

"Departments?" Fox asked. "How many things does this market do?"

Bernard scoffed, "Fucking everything. Weapons, drugs, organs…people. It's some messed up stuff. But for real, you name it; you can find it in the streets here. Anyway, I used to deal for him. At first it was just small-scale to the club scene I frequented. I thought it was fun, you know, living on the edge. I didn't even care much about the money at first. I only did it part-time and I worked as an attorney during the day. Well eventually I stopped practicing law because I realized there was way more money in dealing with the black market. Malveaux liked me, so he let me move up and supplied me more and more. I didn't think at the time that it'd be a problem. If I ever decided to leave, I thought I would just go back into practicing law if it ever fell through and no one would be the wiser."

He continued, "Well, long story short, Malveaux eventually brought on some new people who were posting better numbers. They had more connections, and were already in with the same people I was. Basically without warning, he cut me off. He stopped supplying me and I couldn't make a profit any longer. Understandably, that pissed me off because I gave up my big-shot lawyer job only to get tossed aside by some piece of shit lizard."

He sighed and took another drag of his smoke. "I told him that if he cut me off there'd be hell to pay, that I was in with the legal community and that I could bring him down for everything he did in the black market. He told me that he didn't have any proof at all, and it'd be shooting myself in the foot since I worked for him. But I didn't even care about that. He would go down for way more than I would since he ran the whole thing. And one subpoena for his financials would prove that he was dealing underground. Well that definitely shook him. He told me he'd try and find a place for me in a different scene since I was still a good dealer to him."

Bernard buried his face in his hands as he said, "And I believed him. That was probably the fucking stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. I really thought I scared him into taking me back on. In the middle of the night that same day the police raided my house while I was asleep. They took me down and arrested me at gunpoint. When I was being mirandized, they told me I was being arrested for illegal distribution of firearms, and grand larceny. Illegal distribution of firearms, no shit I was guilty, but I never stole a damn thing in my life. When they questioned me later, they told me that they knew that I hijacked an LPD truck of weapons and they wanted me to turn in my accomplices. I defended myself to the death, but Malveaux staged the whole thing. Somehow he put my prints on a truck of his and faked financial papers to make it look like he lost a whole shipment of assault rifles. The police told me they would be lenient if I turned in the people I worked with since I obviously couldn't hijack a truck by myself. But there was no one to turn in and they were furious that I wasn't cooperating. The evidence Malveaux forged was just too strong, and no one believed me about his dealings with the black market since I had no proof against him. Witnesses were called at my defense to testify that I sold them things from Malveaux's company, but he was smart. The documents he forged said that I stole the exact weapons that he gave me to sell. It just looked like I was selling the stuff that I stole."

He took a final hit from his cigarette and forcefully put it out on the side of the stoop. "I served ten years in federal prison for what he set me up for. Ten motherfucking years. And I lost my license to practice law because now I'm a felon. My whole life is in shambles because that son of a bitch crossed me. I've lost everything. I just got out of prison last month, and I've been trying to pick up the pieces since."

Everyone was silent. Bernard's words still hung in the air while they sunk in.

Eventually, Wolf spoke up, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

Bernard looked up from the ground. "Exactly. If you're trying to take him down, I want to do whatever I can to help. You name it. I don't have much to offer, but I have nothing to lose either. That son of a bitch already took everything from me. This house behind me is just a start, but I probably have more info on how he operates than anything you've heard so far."

Panther chimed in, "The info would be great, but I'm still not sure about this. How do we know you're not working for him still or something? You could tell him where we are and boom, we're all murdered."

Bernard, not taking his eyes off Panther, stood up from the stoop and walked up to him until he was inches away. It wasn't until now that anyone noticed that he was somewhat short, coming up to Panther's chin. He said angrily, "I can already tell I won't like you. But you fucking listen," he said jabbing his finger into Panther's chest, "My life is in ruins. I don't know what it'll take to convince you of that, but it is. I have nothing. Nothing! You're lucky I have this house still because it was already paid off. There's no point to my life anymore except taking down that piece of shit Malveaux. But I have absolutely no way to do that. You do. You're welcome to lay low here as long as you need. If you want, follow me inside and I'll show you around the place. If not, get the fuck away from me."

He turned around back to the stoop, went up, and opened the door. Wolf was right behind him on the way in, and the others stayed behind looking amongst themselves. Fox shrugged and walked up the stoop, followed by Krystal and Falco. Zoe made for the stairs when Panther grabbed her by the arm.

He said to her, "Are you sure about this? I can't help but feel like this isn't a good idea."

Zoe answered, "Well…me too. But did you look in his eyes when he was telling that story? He didn't make that up. I think he's for real. And someone who was in that deep with Malveaux…I mean…shit, he's gonna be a big help with this whole thing." She shrugged. "I think we can trust him. Besides, I think the six of us could kill him pretty easily if he tried to cross us."

She made her way up the stairs. And after a brief moment of uneasiness, Panther followed her.

* * *

The townhouse was laid out in three fairly identical floors, each with a bedroom, living room, and small kitchen. They were all set up to be a one-bedroom apartment rented out individually. The team decided to just stick with the same roommates from their time in the compound.

They were all seated around a kitchen table in the ground floor apartment with Bernard.

The calico was saying, "The market I was in deep with was the underground club scene close to this area of town. It's a bit…intense as I'm sure you'll notice if you start there."

Falco asked, "Intense how?"

Bernard mused, choosing his words carefully. "I don't want to say S&M…but they like leather. It's a bit hardcore, and the clubs basically run all night. They're also big on E, so you might meet some crazies. At the same time though, these clubs run a huge VIP area where the city's elite come socialize at night. They say they like the avant-garde feel of the place. This is where most of the dealing happens, and where I'm better known. Also it'll be where the new dealers on the scene spend their time."

Fox said, "Good to know, but who are they? How can we know who they are?"

Bernard shuffled in his chair and said, "I have no idea. I had to leave the scene when the new blood came in, so I can't tell you. But it really shouldn't be hard to figure it out. All you need to do is get in VIP, ask around, and you'll find them. They know you can't be the cops since you'd legally have to tell them if they ask. You can't lie about being with the police. The guy probably won't sell stuff to you right away until he trusts you, but at least you'll know who he is."

Panther said, "How are we supposed to get in there anyway? I mean, they won't just let anyone into a VIP section if it's anything like where we're from."

Bernard shrugged. "Well…maybe use a bit of the female persuasion on your side."

Zoe just laughed. Krystal was a bit taken aback and said, "Beg pardon?"

The calico feline answered, "Most of the guys back there are just that…guys. So are the bouncers. You work your charm a bit, and they'll let you in. It happens a lot."

Krystal asked, "Is that a good idea? Just Zoe and I walking into a club alone that we've never been to?"

Bernard waved his hand across the table. "Take one of these guys with you. Tell 'em he's your security detail. Pretend to be someone higher up than you are. Dress nice. Be classy. They'll buy it."

Fox laughed a bit. "Well, any volunteers? If no one has ay better ideas, I'll go."

Falco tersely said, "I'll go."

Everyone at the table looked to the blue pilot. Fox said, "Alright, but why?"

Falco crossed his arms and answered, "I could kick any of your asses in hand-to-hand. I'll just bring my knife with me if things get crazy. I've snuck it past security plenty of times, they won't find it."

Bernard said, "Alright, if you're comfortable with it, then that sounds like a plan. We're just getting information, shouldn't be too dangerous at all if you guys aren't stupid."

Zoe said, "When are we going to do this though?"

Bernard shrugged and said, "Why not tonight? It's Saturday, I'm sure they'll be there."

Fox leaned forward into the table and said, "Tonight? Isn't that a little soon?"

The calico said, "Does it really matter? It's either now or later. Doesn't make very much of a difference, does it? I mean I know you all just flew in and all, but just go take a nap or something. The club doesn't get busy until after eleven anyway. Gives you plenty of time."

Fox looked to everyone at the table. "Well…unless anyone has any reason not to, let's do it tonight."

* * *

Zoe gracefully speed out of the cab, wearing an elegant knee-length black dress with stiletto heels and a clutch to match. Krystal followed, wearing a long, sequenced silver dress with matching heels. They blended right in with the city's elite as two girls out for a night on the town. Falco stood close behind, wearing a dark leather jacket with ominous sunglasses overtop his eyes. He had his signature black knife tucked into a very thin holster against his left forearm, a place where security wouldn't expect to find a weapon.

They walked to the sidewalk in front of the club that Bernard had directed them to hit first. They stopped for a moment and Zoe turned to smile at Falco.

"You look nice this way, I must say."

Falco laughed a bit and replied, "Well, I try. What can I say?"

Krystal looked between the two and took a breath before saying, "Well…shall we?"

The three made their way to the entrance of the club, and made their first move into the depths of the underground scene of Bayeux.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: For the record, I know calicos can't be male unless they have Klinefelter's. But this whole story (along with the rest of this fandom) is based around talking animals that kill people for a living. I'm not exactly worried about biological accuracy. If I was, I wouldn't have put Zoe in heels either since I doubt talons would fit in any sort of shoe, let alone stilettos. Nor would Falco's jaw be broken in his previously mentioned fight with Fox. He doesn't have one. So…don't worry about it. **

**Also I think my profile is "broken" because my view counter reads zero. But I've gotten reviews, so that's impossible. So please, leave me some feedback so I know you're out there. Any and all feedback is appreciated. Much obliged.**

**~CL**

**

* * *

**

The line to enter the club was halfway down the block. The patronage seemed to be very young and more middle class, and the trio wondered if they were even in the right place. Bernard was certainly not kidding when he told them that the regulars were a bit on the extreme side. Most of them were dressed in dark leather and latex, with accessories ranging from spiked wrist and neck braces to chain mail. The group tried to hold back their stares of surprise due to the fact that evidently this was the normal fare in this part of town. Bernard had told them that many of the city's elite came to this place for who knows what reason, but they couldn't spot any of them from where they were. The entrance underneath the blue neon sign that read _**Mystique**_ had a large German Sheppard in front of a door that was seemingly split in half. The long line was behind a velvet rope that led to the left, while a separate rope blocked off the entrance to the right.

"_To the right I'm thinking?_" Krystal's voice rang out in the others' heads. Zoe was a bit visibly startled while Falco was already used to this sort of communication.

He answered, "_Probably. I doubt these people over here are heading into the VIP room._"

Zoe looked between the two questioningly, when Falco's voice rang in her head, "_Krystal's got out heads linked up. That way we can all talk without anyone knowing. We can't read your every thought, but think out loud, and we'll hear you_"

Testing the waters, Zoe replied, "_Alright, sounds…good I guess._" She paused. "_Krystal, hike up your boobs. Let's work this guy over. He's got a list in his hand that I'm sure we're not on._"

Krystal's eyes widened at the blunt remark as they walked up to the entrance, not even stopping as Zoe tried to walk straight past the bouncer into the right entrance. He stuck out an arm to block her path.

"Excuse me madam," he said in a deep voice with a French accent. Everyone in this city seemed to carry that tone of speech. "VIP only. Are you on the list?"

Zoe put on a coy smile and said, "Nope." She pulled Krystal close to her, locking arms. "But are you really going to stop two girls like us from having some fun here?"

"_Just smile and be sexy,_" Zoe's voice said in Krystal's head, prompting Krstal to put on her most charming smile and put her other hand on her hip.

The bouncer looked between the two, smiling lightly before returning to a stern face and looking towards Falco. "Who's this joker?"

Zoe answered, "Personal security. We're both what you call…important. Not gonna come out all by ourselves now."

The German Sheppard continued to eye up the stoic falcon in dark glasses, eventually saying, "Doesn't look like much if you ask me."

Zoe stepped close to the bouncer, lightly putting her hand on his chest and whispering in his ear, "That's the idea. He's plenty inconspicuous, but trust me, he can take whatever you throw at him." She backed away with a sly smile on her face.

The large canine chuckled a bit. "That so? Well…I guess you'll find out in there. Go on."

The bouncer pulled back the rope, and without another word, Zoe moved into the entrance of the club.

Krystal followed close behind, and said, "Thanks love," as she walked by.

The trio walked down the dimly lit hallway leading off to the right of the entrance, with Zoe leading the way walking powerfully into the club. The pulsing bass of the music became louder and louder as they walked, and they eventually came out into the main room. The section they were now in was set up more like a lounge, with black and red being the primary colors. Sleek, black couches were arranged around short, glass tables with soft red lighting in them around the edges of the room. The bar was also black and made of a finished wood with a thick polyurethane layer on top. The place had a dark atmosphere, which was promoted by the dark-sounding techno music coming from the other section of the club, which was a floor below but visible through a pane of glass that made up the wall across from the bar. As opposed to the calm atmosphere of the lounge, the lower section was full of people dancing and losing themselves in the beat of the music, creating an intense atmosphere further fueled by the leather and latex attire. The VIP section was smaller, and appeared to be a loft of sorts as the lower section was underneath as well as visible through the glass. The lounge was completely separate from the rave below, and the glass seemed to be sound-insulated to a degree as the music sounded relatively soft where they were.

The lounge wasn't crowded, likely due to the bouncer at the door with the exclusive list in his hands. The patronage was certainly what Bernard had led them to expect, with many of them appearing to be big business moguls and other elite of the like. They were seated around the couches engaged in light conversation with one another, sipping martinis and champagne. Krystlal and Zoe were dressed perfectly to fit in, and they also instigated a few head turns being amongst the younger females in the room. Falco was also certainly not the only person in the room responsible for an individual's protective detail.

"_Well, at least we're not down there,_" Krystal said looking to the lower section as the three walked over to the bar, "_Not quite sure I could handle all that._"

"_Couldn't agree more,_" Zoe answered, "_What's the gameplan here guys? How are we gonna find who we're looking for?_" She ordered two cosmos from the bar while waiting for a reply.

After a few moments, Falco said to them, "_Just play it cool. Half this room is already checking you guys out. Only a matter of time 'til someone starts hitting on you. Take it from there._"

Krystal and Zoe made their way over to one of the empty couches against the glass pane and began to chat casually while sipping their drinks. Falco stood behind the couch with his arms folded, not engaged in the conversation and playing the part of a bodyguard perfectly.

After they were there nearly an hour, Krystal's voice rang out in his head, "_Anything?_"

He answered, "_This guy over in the corner keeps checking out Zoe, The arctic fox over there with the two girls on him._"

The other two subtly shifted their gazes across their room to find the one to whom Falco was referring. Off in the corner across the room sat a slender white fox dressed in a solid black crew neck shirt with a black pinstriped blazer overtop. His fur was possibly the brightest shade of white possible, standing out in stark contrast to his black clothes.

"_Holy shit,_" said Krystal.

Startled, Zoe said, "_What is it?_"

"_He was in the file…the file that Creswell gave me before we left of the suspected people the company was working with._"

Zoe turned to her, eyes slightly widened. "_Are you shitting me?_"

Krystal still looked over to him. "_Not at all…that's definitely him._"

Falco chimed in. "_Well what about him? Who is he?_"

Krystal pinched the bridge of her nose in both thought and annoyance. "_Oh Christ, I can't remember his name. I barely even looked at that thing. I thought it was bullshit to be honest. But his picture was definitely in there._"

Zoe looked to her, still talking to her via thoughts, "_Well rack your brain. We need to know what we can about him._"

Falco said, "_Well we're going to find out soon enough. He's on his way over._"

Acknowledging Falco's remark silently, they continued to chat as if nothing were different. The arctic fox made his way over to the group, carrying a martini in his hand and walking confidently across the room. Krystal was the first to turn her attention to him as he approached, and he lightly smiled at her.

When he was within earshot, he said to them, "Good evening ladies. A shame for you to be alone, no? Mind if I enjoy your company?" he said in a smooth, sophisticated voice, also in a French accent. He was from the area.

Zoe smiled and put her hand out in welcome. "By all means. Please."

He moved to take a seat between the two, forcing them to move slightly aside on the couch. He looked between the two and said, "Sorry if I interrupted, but it just breaks my heart to see two ladies as beautiful as yourselves alone on such a pleasant evening."

Zoe motioned to the two women he just left across the room. "What about those two? They seemed to appreciate your company just as well," she said with a rather camp smile.

The fox paused over a sip of his drink and said, "Oh no mind to them, they are merely associates of mine."

"Associates, eh?" replied Zoe, "They were acting rather friendly to be merely associates."

He chuckled lightly before saying, "Well aren't you a little flame. Associates may not be the appropriate word so much as employees."

Zoe took a sip of her cosmo. "Still, a bit inappropriate for employees to be fraternizing with their employer in such a way, don't you think?"

"In my line of business, it's not inappropriate in the least. Their value to me is directly proportionate to their personal appeal, and thus, they try to demonstrate that to me as often as they can."

Krystal chimed in, "And exactly what line of business might that be?"

The fox finished the rest of his drink and picked up the olive spear, examining it as he spoke. "The fashion industry. I'm a designer, and quite a damn good one if I do say so myself."

Zoe smiled. "Oh that's so interesting. What kind of lines do you do?"

He took a bite of the first of two olives off the spear before saying, "Ladies' high fashion mostly. It's been my dream for the better part of my life."

The black falcon's eyes lit up momentarily before saying, "Oh really? The top of the industry, eh? Impressive."

The fox set down his drink as he swallowed his bite of olive. "Oh pardon me, where are my manners? I've yet to even introduce myself. My name is Jean-Pierre." He took Zoe's hand tenderly in both of his. "And who might I have the pleasure of meeting this evening?"

She answered, "Zoe. Pleased to meet you as well."

He took her hand and kissed it lightly. "Such a lovely name. Suiting, I must say."

He returned Zoe's smile before turning to Krystal and lightly taking her hand in the same fashion. "And you my dear?"

Krystal blushed slightly and answered, "Krystal. Pleasure."

He kissed her hand and said, "Pleasure is all mine, I assure you."

She took a sip from her drink, not breaking her gaze with his intently examining eyes. She said, "I'm charmed, really. But I'm with somebody."

Jean-Pierre laughed heartily as he finished the remainder of the first olive from the spear. "Oh no dear Krystal, that's not why I'm here. In fact, I do not even bark up that particular tree, if you understand what I'm saying."

Krystal laughed lightly. He smiled and said, "Actually, I approached you for a proposition of sorts."

The blue vixen said in a bit of a surprised manner, "A proposition you say? And what exactly might that mean?"

As the arctic fox took a bite of his second olive, Falco's voice rang out, "_What the hell is he getting at? I really don't think I like him._"

Zoe promptly replied, "_Oh I think I know where he's going. Just wait it out._"

Through chewing, Jean-Pierre said, "Well first let me ask you dear Zoe, what line of work are you in?"

Zoe sipped her drink as he spoke, shooting a knowing glance at Falco as she did. "Business investments mostly, with my partner Krystal here," she said.

The white-furred fox's eyes lit up and he smiled widely as he said, "Partner? Are you from the same side of the tracks as I?"

Zoe laughed in response. "Oh no, not that type of partner. She's my business partner and long-time friend. We both come from rather wealthy families so we combined our assets and created an investment firm. That's in fact why we're here in the city. We came here to investigate new opportunities to go international."

"_Smooth,_" Krystal said.

Jean-Pierre smiled at her. "Ah, successful I take it if you're firm is international."

Zoe nodded in response. "Indeed it is."

"Well this might be a bit outside of your range of experience, but trust me when I say I know what I'm talking about." He paused to bite the final piece of olive off of the spear. "Have you ever had photographs taken? Professionally?"

Zoe mused for a moment, looking at Krystal over his shoulder. "Well no, I can't say that I have."

He quickly answered, "Well I think it would be a wise investment, so to speak. I think your bone structure is perfect for editorial, your slender frame is perfect for runway work, and your overall appearance is breathtaking to say the least. I'm actually surprised that no one's said this to you before."

"_Holy fucking shit,_" said Falco.

"_Called it,_" answered Zoe. She said placing a hand to her chest, "Oh Mr. Jean, I'm so flattered. But honestly, I don't think that's quite for me. The world of business is my calling, not fashion."

Falco said, "_What are you doing?_"

Zoe shot him a glance and replied, "_Calm yourself. I know these people._"

Jean-Pierre cocked his head slightly and said, "Oh come now Miss Zoe, don't tell me the offer doesn't entice you even for a moment. The glitz, the glamour of the fashion world; don't tell me you've never thought about it."

Zoe swirled her drink in her hand. "Don't try and pull that on me. I'm not so naïve. I seriously doubt I'd make a model just like that, up against people who've done this their entire lives."

Jean-Pierre chuckled to himself. "As astute as you are beautiful. This may be true, but is there any harm in trying? Please, come to my office on Monday morning. We have all the equipment for a few headshots. On the house of course. Please, humor me."

Zoe was visibly hesitant, musing to herself when Krystal chimed in, "I can't say I've never thought about it. If Zoe here doesn't want to…I'd love to try my hand at modeling."

Jean-Pierre turned around to face the blue vixen. "I love the enthusiasm. And as beautiful as you are, the fashion world requires a different sort of beauty; more of an edge, a fierceness. You are quite attractive, I assure you, but I do not think you quite have that edge we need."

"Oh…" was all Krystal managed to answer before he turned back around to face Zoe.

He said to her, "You on the other hand, Miss Zoe, have a ferocity in your looks like none I've seen in some time. Do not take your own words of doubt to heart, because in my honest opinion, you would soar in this industry should you choose to do so."

Zoe crossed her legs as she smiled at him coyly. "Really now? And how many aspiring models do you say that to?"

Jean-Pierre answered quickly, "All of them."

Zoe laughed abruptly. "And in what way am I different?"

"I'm actually being honest with you."

Zoe raised her eyebrows and smiled, obviously in sarcasm. "Oh? Is that so?"

The fox smiled at her. "Indeed it is. Listen, I know that you probably do not take my words as truth, and I cannot blame you in any way. But I assure you, if you heed my offer…brilliant things will come of it. Maybe seeing your own photographs will help that," he said as he reached into his inside coat pocket, pulling out a card. "Here," he said handing it to the black avian, "All the information you need it right there. I'll be expecting you at 10am sharp."

He moved to stand up from the couch. "Krystal, it was a pleasure. Until we meet again," he said kissing the blue vixen's hand. "Zoe," he suspired, taking her hand, "I expect to be seeing you soon." He kissed her hand slowly. "Take care," he said before turning and walking back to his original corner.

There was a silence as Zoe smugly took a sip of her drink.

Falco was the first to say, "_Well…that probably couldn't have been easier._"

Krystal laughed softly. "_I'll say. Zoe, you better impress that guy Monday or we're at square one again._"

Zoe looked at her confidently. "_Don't you worry about that. I'm just gonna play dumb, knock his socks off with my signature looks back from Corneria._"

Krystal and Zoe returned to their overt casual chatting as they were before as they took in more of the club's dark, avant-garde atmosphere. Zoe finished off her drink, noticing Jean-Pierre off in the corner glancing her way along with the two women he was with earlier. If there's one thing she didn't miss from the modeling world, it was cattiness, and she could only hope that this planet saw less of it than she was used to.


	11. Chapter 11

"My word…she's gorgeous."

Jean-Pierre leaned over the shoulder of his assistant as they watched the digital photographs appear on the computer screen in front of them. The photographer continued snapping pictures of the black avian in front of him wearing a gray tanktop and skinny jeans that she wore to the office that day. She also had a pair of large-framed sunglasses that she was given as a test product. From the corner of her eye in between the flashes, she could see Jean-Pierre and his assistant gawking at the computer screen, and she smiled to herself on the inside, not wanting to break her hard-edged, stoic face.

The assistant, a thin black feline, spoke with a thick Russian accent, "Every picture is perfect. There hasn't been one yet that we couldn't publish right now."

The arctic fox didn't break his stare on the screen as he said, "And this isn't even a real set. Plastic backdrop, ambient light, and she's still taking amazing photographs."

The feline turned to face him from her seat at the computer. "Jean, this one is special. I can't remember the last time I saw photographs this stunning. Where the hell did you find her?"

"I met her at the club this past weekend. Said she was in town on business."

"Business you say? Hmm…if it's not the modeling business, she's in the wrong career."

Jean-Pierre smiled to her and said, "And you know the beautiful thing about it? She's unsigned. She's all ours unless she signs on with an agent."

The feline replied, "But of course. I take it you're going to assign her to the new Éthéré campaign? You have no other projects before that, no?"

"Yes indeed. I'll certainly use her in the show and also the subsequent print advertisements. That is of course assuming she makes the headliner I'm expecting her to be."

The black feline turned slowly to him again, skepticism on her face. "Headliner you say? You're going to use an unsigned, amateur model to headline your biggest campaign of the year? Are you mad?"

Jean-Pierre chuckled lightly. "My dear Nadiya, forgive me, but I've been at this a bit longer than yourself. I know talent when I see it, and she has plenty of it. We'll just see if she can handle it."

Nadiya returned to the computer and shook her head a bit. "You certainly have more guts than I do."

Jean-Pierre laughed before saying, "And that, my dear, is why I create things like Éthéré. It's going to be huge, just you watch."

The arctic fox turned to walk away while Nadiya continued to observe the flawless photographs in front of her. Just then, the photographer snapped his hundredth frame, marking the end of the photoshoot.

Beginning to disassemble his camera, the small red fox walked up to Zoe who was finding a place to return her borrowed glasses.

He said, "Thank you. That was an excellent photoshoot."

Zoe shifted her eyes a bit in confusion. "Well…I should be thanking you as opposed to the other way around I suppose. You took your own time to shoot an amateur like me," she said with a light laugh.

The fox chuckled in return. "No, thank you for these shots. They're the best I've ever taken."

Zoe smiled. "Well I'm sure it wasn't me in front of the camera that made that happen."

The photographer tersely answered, "No it most certainly was. I've never seen anything like that. These will be the shining highlight of my portfolio, and I thank you for it."

She was both surprised and very flattered. "Well…you're welcome," she said before smiling awkwardly.

The photographer pulled a business card form his pocket, handing it to the avian. "I'm no big-shot, but if you need more headshots or something, please give me a call. I'd love to work with you again."

Zoe was a bit taken aback at the sudden interest in her. She slowly pocketed the card and smiled at the fox. "Thanks…I'll hold on to that."

The photographer nodded and turned on his heel, leaving the set. Zoe turned her attention to the black feline she met just earlier that day who was still clicking way at the remote computer to the side of the set. She walked over, standing on the opposite side of the desk from where Nadiya sat.

The tall avian put her hands on her hips, then sighed before saying, "So, how'd I do?"

Not moving her hand on which her head rested, Nadiya shifted her eyes up to meet Zoe's. She said, "Not bad…not bad at all…here, come take a look."

The avian moved to the other side of the desk, taking a look at the digital photos of herself cycling through the screen. Silently, she and Nadiya analyzed each snapshot, until the seated feline, still not moving in her seat, asked, "Are you sure you've never done this before? These are not amateur photographs."

Zoe replied, "What do you mean?"

Nadiya continued clicking through the frames as she spoke, "Look at these. You gave us everything in these pictures. Profile, straight-on, three-quarter, editorial, catalog, and you never lost your light once."

There was an awkward silence. "Umm…so I take it I did well then?"

Nadiya quickly answered, "Yes, very well indeed. But new models always find one pose and stick with it, because they think it's best. It takes time for a girl to start working out of the box and give different poses. But you gave us everything here. It's…quite fascinating, really."

Not sure how to answer, Zoe replied, "Maybe I'm just a natural? Who knows, but I'm quite flattered."

Still not breaking her gaze from the screen, Nadiya said, "Perhaps. But Jean-Pierre seems to agree with you. He told me just before he left that he would like you to headline his new campaign."

Slightly taken aback, the new model replied, "Headline? Is that…as serious as it sounds?"

"Yes indeed. You'll be the face of most of the print ads, billboards, and not to mention the main attraction at the fashion show at the end of the month."

Zoe was stunned. She never expected such news after only one shoot with the designer. After another awkward silence, she said, "Wow…that's…not what I expected to hear."

Nadiya scoffed a bit, "Yes, you're not the only one."

The avian answered after a moment's thought, "You seem less than thrilled about this."

Nadiya finally turned her chair about to face her. "It's nothing personal, but I think it's a foolish move. You've just finished your first photoshoot, and now he wants you to be the face of his biggest campaign of the year. He's never even seen you on the runway. Don't tell me that's not odd to you."

Zoe shifted her stance uneasily, not saying anything.

"My boss tends to lose sight of things when he sees a fresh new model, especially one who has a lot of potential. You have to understand that my paycheck is directly related to his success. I don't want to see this campaign go south because of his occasional quixotic thought process."

The avian nodded in acknowledgement. "I see…I can't say I blame you at all."

Nadiya closed her eyes and shrugged slowly. "But it's not my decision. I just keep his calendar and make his phone calls. But I must warn you…" she trailed off, musing over her words. "There is another model he's hired. Chantal. She's a bit…vocal, if you understand me."

Zoe put her hands on her hips and asked, "What, she work for him too?"

"Not exactly. She works for an independent agent, but Jean-Pierre has taken a liking to her and her rising popularity in the city. She was informally promised his next campaign…"

"And now he's given that campaign to me…"

The feline nodded. "Exactly. So I warn you, Chantal is going to…be rather upset, to put it politely."

Zoe questioned, "And to put it impolitely?"

"She's going to try and claw your throat out."

The avian was harshly taken aback. "Excuse me?"

Nadiya laughed a bit before saying, "Don't worry, I don't think she'd actually try and murder you. But expect her to get in your face quite a bit. She's this rich, snobby bitch who's used to always getting what she wants. She's going to be furious about losing the campaign."

"Well…I appreciate the concern." She turned to look at the clock on the wall. "If there's nothing else though, I really must be going."

The seated feline nodded. "But of course. We'll be in touch."

As Zoe turned on her heel to walk out the door, Nadiya moved back to the computer screen, looking once again through all of the photographs taken just minutes ago.

* * *

Bernard sat alone in his house that was now occupied by the six mercenaries. He was on his laptop in the ground floor kitchen, intently studying the screen in front of him. The front door slammed shut, and he averted his eyes up to see a black avian walking into the kitchen.

"Hey," she simply stated, heading for the fridge.

"Hello. How'd it go?"

Zoe sighed as she smiled, taking a bottle of water out of the fridge. "Couldn't have been better. I played dumb, and they totally bought that I was an amateur. Told me I was amazing, and then the dude named me the face of his next campaign."

Bernard sat back in his chair, folding his arms. "My word. Is that…normal?"

She sat down at the table opposite of him, opening up the bottle. "No, not at all. Back on Corneria you had to work with someone several times before they'd even consider making you a headliner. Even for me being the sensation I was, no one would give you that kind of job that quickly."

The calico raised his eyebrows. "Impressive. You must have really made an impression on him," he said while returning his eyes to the laptop in front of him.

"Guess so," Zoe replied, taking a sip of her drink. "Where is everyone by the way?"

Not making eye contact and still looking at the computer, he replied, "They went to check out the city. Just trying to get a feel for the place I suppose."

"I see…" Zoe replied, "And may I ask what's so interesting that you're looking at?"

"I'm looking up what I can on that Jean-Pierre guy you met the other night. The internet is a beautiful thing."

The avian laughed a bit. "Anything interesting?"

"Not especially. Question though, what was your impression of his office? I mean like based on what you did in Corneria, what did you think?"

Zoe folded her arms, resting her elbows on the table while searching her memories. "Well…it was a pretty nice office I guess. He had equipment on scene to do a low budget shoot, which most people don't have. If I had to guess I'd say he was a pretty solid designer. Maybe not the biggest name around but big enough."

Bernard thought over her words. "See that's funny…because from what I'm seeing here, his work never gained any popularity. He's just some guy who churns off clothing lines that don't impress anyone."

Zoe's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Huh…he certainly doesn't carry himself that way. The way he was talking about his next campaign, he thought it was going to be the next huge thing to hit the fashion world."

Bernard chuckled a bit. "So he thinks he's hot shit, does he? That's just funny. Well I suppose we know where he got the money to fuel his nice office. Explains why he's selling weapons on the side at least."

Zoe laughed in return. "Yeah I guess. Not that I suppose it really matters though."

Bernard shrugged. "Maybe it does. I mean you need to get in deep with the guy right? Well right now you only know him as a designer, and you need to get to know his other side."

Zoe looked at him, eyes slightly squinted. "I'm not sure I follow you."

Bernard smiled. "Well…you said he makes himself seem bigger than he is, right? Hit him where it hurts. He's obviously not the greatest designer, so you know he has to be supplementing himself somehow. Tell him you want in or you'll take him down."

Zoe shook her head a bit. "Whoa…let's not get ahead of ourselves. I just met the guy two days ago. I don't even know him like that."

Bernard replied, "I'm not saying go after him right now. You have time. Get close to him, and then see what you can do. He obviously really likes you already."

Zoe laughed. "Well…no denying that I guess." Bernard just shrugged in response. She continued, "Sounds like a good enough plan I guess. We'll just see how the campaign goes and take it from there."

Bernard shut his laptop and stood up from the table. "Forgive me if I'm anxious to get this over with. If you recall, I have a rather serious vendetta going here. And if there's anything I've learned dealing with the underground in this city, it's that you need to take care of your problems as soon as they show up."

Without another word, Bernard left the room, leaving Zoe to muse over his seemingly overdramatic words.

* * *

A thin otter was slowly crawling through the dark on his elbows towards the street, leaving a trail of blood in the alley as he did. The shoulder of his black jacket was slowly becoming saturated with the blood running down his face from a gash on his temple. His leg screamed in pain, the bone clearly broken clean through. He gazed up to the street, gasping for breath, hoping, praying that someone would walk by and see his deadly plight through the cover of the night and call for help.

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily," said the deep, ominous voice from behind him. Suddenly, the assailant's foot slammed in between his shoulder blades, painfully pinning him down to the cold concrete. The butt of the gun slammed into his head another countless time, forcing more blood into his head and out his gushing wound even faster. His face was pressed by his own weight to the grimy, cold floor of the alley, the otter unable to lift his head with his own strength.

Suddenly, the pressure on his ribcage was lifted along with the crushing stomp, and the assailant flipped him over onto his back. The otter was becoming delirious from the gratuitous blood loss, and his vision was a bit hazy along with his mind as a whole. He could sense the mysterious person in front of him crouching down, but he was too weak to fight back or protest in anyway. Still unsure of who was attacking him, he channeled his strength into focusing his vision on the person who was now no more than a foot away from his face. Even though it was dark, once his vision was centered enough, he immediately recognized the canine in front of him.

Wolf pulled a lighter from his pocket, lighting the cigarette that was now in his mouth. He blew a plume of smoke right in the face of the beaten otter on the ground below him.

He said, "So…are you finished being a problem yet?"

The otter didn't know how to respond. He was still caught in the surprise of who was in front of him, and didn't yet even begin to wonder what he was doing in the city.

Wolf moved within a few inches and softly said, "Now I'm only going to say this once. You're going to tell me what I need to know, and then I'm going to simply walk out of this alley, with you alive. If not, then I'm going to kill you, and leave your cold, lifeless corpse in this alley to be dinner for all the rats running around. It's up to you."

The otter only responded with coarse, labored breaths. Wolf continued, "I need you to tell me where I can find all those motherfuckers from your old posse. I have a score to settle, which you should very well know if you've recognized me yet." The otter had his eyes closed, but he was still clearly in pain. "I'll give you a moment to collect yourself," Wolf said tersely before taking a drag from his cigarette.

The canine thought a moment himself about what he was doing. Here he was, leaning over a guy who he'd just beaten to within an inch of his life, nonchalantly having a smoke while his victim bled out in a dirty alley. Sure he had killed before; it was his job. But never before had he done something like this for reasons so personal.

"Time's up," Wolf said before placing the gun to the otter's wounded temple. "Scream and I kill you." With his non-gun hand, he placed the lit end of the cigarette against the otter's neck, listening to the fur and skin singe beneath the ember. Wolf pushed his weight down on the otter's torso, keeping him still as he grunted and writhed in excruciating pain. Wolf held it there until the soft light went dim, when he removed the cigarette and closely examined it.

"Huh, you put out my cigarette. You're gonna owe me a pack, you know that." The otter, still without a word, just winced in pain, still breathing heavily.

Through a groan, the otter said, "What the fuck do you want?"

"Ahh, he speaks. For a second there I thought I might have broken you completely," Wolf said with a light laugh. "And I already told you what I want. Now I'm just waiting on you to tell me."

"You've got to be kidding me," the otter said, still breathing heavily, "I haven't seen those people in years, man. I wouldn't even begin to know where to find them."

"Well you better try a little harder than that, because I have a whole list of people I can burn through to find them. I just found you first. I have absolutely no problem killing you here and now, and then just moving on to the next one."

The otter was visibly frustrated. "It's been years, man. All those people got out a long time ago, just like me. What makes you think you're going to find them so easy?"

Wolf replied, "Oh, don't you worry about that. I have my ways. Just understand that I have no problems killing you right here and now if you can't help me."

The otter shook his head. "I got out of that world a long time ago, I swear to god. I can't help you, even if I wanted to. I promise you, I haven't talked to any of them in years. They could be anywhere on the planet for all I know."

Wolf lost his patience, and whipped the gun across the otter's face, forcing him to spit up more blood to join the collecting pool on the ground. He raised his voice a bit. "Look at me. Fucking look at me! Do I look like I'm fuckin' around here? Huh? I have no problem killing you right now and hunting down the next of your piece of shit little partners, so if you don't tell me what I need to know right now, I swear to god this bullet is going right through your skull and out the other side, painting a lovely little mural of your blood and brain matter on the floor of this alley," he said while he forced the point of the gun into the otter's forehead.

His words hung in the air as the otter's terrified eyes stared back into the personification of rage and vengeance. "I don't know, I seriously don't know. I'd tell you in a heartbeat but I seriously lost contact with all of them years ago. I'm sorry, I'm so god damned sorry."

There was a thick, tangible silence that held in the air while Wolf stared death at the otter beneath him. He slowly stood up, gun still pointed at his victim's head.

"That's not the answer I was looking for." The canine never broke eye contact as he slowly pulled a silencer out of his coat pocket and quickly attached it to the barrel of his gun. "See you in hell."

Those were his only words before a barely audible shot was fired. The otter's death was instant, as the newly formed hole in between his eyes spilled fresh blood down the crevices of his face and began to pool on the ground with the rest of the blood spilled that night.

Without another breath, Wolf stepped over the warm corpse and out into the deserted city street, packing away his warm gun as he did. A wailing siren far off in the distance was the only thing to be heard in the otherwise lifeless night, as Wolf disappeared into the dense shadows in the depths of Bayeux.


	12. Chapter 12

**So I know this story is a lot different from a lot of other stuff in this section, so I would really appreciate it if you guys left me some feedback with what you think. As much as I like breaking the mold, I'm just wondering if the readers like the way I'm breaking it as well. Any and all feedback, as always, is much appreciated.**

**~CL**

**

* * *

**It was early in the morning, and Fox was the only one awake between the three conjoined apartments. He was still in his sleeping attire, a plain white undershirt and a pair of gym shorts, and was now in the living room of the downstairs apartment, the one he shared with Krystal. His feet were propped up on the coffee table, and his arms were shoulder-width apart on the ground, supporting his weight. His body dipped to the ground repeatedly in an impromptu workout while he closed his eyes in focus. Suddenly, a soft rap on the door broke Fox's concentration, and he slowly stood from his horizontal position. Grabbing a small hand towel from the table and wiping his brow, he made his way to the front door in a mild state of confusion.

Looking through the peephole, Fox saw a middle-aged badger in an unkempt shirt and tie. Tossing the towel over his shoulder, Fox opened the door and greeted the stranger, "Can I help you?"

The badger simply held up a small gold badge on a leather backing, keeping the blank look on his face. "Good day sir," he said with a French accent, "I am with the Bayeux Homicide Unit and I am investigating a series of murders in the area. Have you noticed anything unusual in the neighborhood as of late?"

Fox thought for a brief moment and then shook his head. "No, I can't say I have. Mind if I asked what happened exactly?" he said with a bit of skepticism in his voice.

The detective replied, "Of course. Within the past month, three people have been brutally killed in alleyways of the surrounding area. We have no leads as to who is doing such a thing, so we are now canvassing the neighborhoods to try and get ourselves some clues."

Fox nodded in understanding. "Wow, that's awful. Sorry to hear that. But again, I haven't seen anything."

The badger nodded in response and sighed before saying, "And this is the part where I'm supposed to tell you to always lock your doors and windows, and never travel alone at night. But if you ask me personally, I'd say you're not in any real danger, so don't worry yourself over it."

Fox didn't respond, but carried a confused expression.

The detective continued, "Yes, I know. Though the investigation is still early, having spent years working homicide, I can assure you that this was done by a professional who was targeting specific people. The killer is very methodical, violent, and careful about his forensics. He knows what he's doing. I'm simply here on the orders of my captain. So unless you have previous ties with the black market and warranted the attention of a hitman, you're in no real danger."

Fox answered, "Oh…well I appreciate the warning."

The badger placed two fingers to his forehead in an informal salute as he moved down the stoop. "You're very welcome. Have a good day."

The mercenary turned back into the house, only to see Zoe coming down the staircase, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

Through a yawn, she said, "Falco drank all our damn orange juice. Mind if I bum some?"

Fox walked in the direction of the kitchen while saying, "Yeah, no prob."

Zoe rummaged through the fridge searching for the carton while Fox grabbed two glasses from the cupboard. He asked her, "You always up this early?"

Finally pulling the juice from the fridge, she said, "Not at all. But I'm a really light sleeper so that guy at the door woke me up. Who was that by the way?"

Fox leaned on the counter, watching her pour the two glasses. "Some cop canvassing the area. Said there's been some killings so they were out asking people about it."

Zoe returned the carton to the fridge, leaning on the door after she closed it. "Well shit. Guess Bernard was right about this place being pretty crazy at night."

Fox nodded in agreement, sipping his glass. "How's that campaign going for you by the way? I haven't talked to you since that photoshoot you had the other day."

Zoe beamingly said, "It's going great actually. I just finished up doing all the print ads and they still love me. It's definitely interesting for me too, heading back to my modeling days and all. Almost like nostalgia."

"Almost?" he asked before laughing.

She shrugged a bit before saying, "Hey, can't say I loved every day of it."

There was a short silence before Fox said, "Find anything else out about this guy you're working for? Any way to pin him I mean?"

Zoe shook her head a bit and said, "No, not really. But remember how we were talking about how he's really no big deal in the fashion industry? I feel like he's going to be a lot bigger after this campaign. I mean the industry might be different from what I'm used to, but he's got some good stuff going. This might be his big break."

Fox looked at her questioningly. "Well what does that mean for us if he goes big?"

She shook her head a bit. "Nothing, really. I mean if it goes that well, I can probably pry into his life a bit better since I'm sure he'll be even more fond of me than he already is." She shrugged. "But who the hell knows. We'll just see what happens. The big fashion show officially introducing the line is tomorrow night, so we'll find out soon enough."

"It's tomorrow? Really? Wow…can't believe we've been here for like a month already."

Zoe nodded and said, "Yup, it's crazy."

There was a pause while Fox downed the rest of his juice before placing his glass in the sink. "Well, I'm gonna go take a shower before Krystal gets up and uses all the hot water," he said with a mutual laugh. "Good luck tomorrow if I don't see you. I'm sure you'll be busy leading up to the show and all."

The avian folded her arms. "Yeah, probably. And thank you, I appreciate it."

Fox smiled lightly before making his way back to his bedroom, leaving Zoe in the kitchen to sip slowly on her drink.

* * *

"You look stunning, Zoe. You really do," said Nadiya from behind the avian who was seated at the makeup station.

She laughed lightly. "You keep saying that. Stop it."

The black feline smiled at her through the mirror they were both looking at. "But it's so true. Forgive me if I'm excited. This really might be Jean-Pierre's biggest line ever. With no small part from you of course."

Zoe just smiled, trying to remain still for the makeup artist that was adding the finishing touches.

Nadiya rubbed her shoulders a bit and said, "Just relax. I now the first show can be nerve-wracking, especially with you being the main attraction.

"Yeah, there are definitely some butterflies, I'll admit."

The feline just smiled at her again. "Just relax, you'll be great," she said before walking away.

Falco leaned up against the wall that the vanity was pushed up against, watching the bustling, crowded activity pass him by. He wore a black jacket similar to the one he wore to the club before, with a badge that read 'Security' clipped to the front collar. Though visitors were disallowed backstage, Zoe demanded to have her security detail present with her at such a busy event, and Jean-Pierre easily obliged with the wishes of the star of his show.

While watching all the other models and show organizers frantically pass him by, he said, "Are people at fashion shows always this crazy?"

She answered, "How should I know? This is the first one I've been in."

The makeup artist finished up her work, and said, "Alright, all finished Zoe."

She looked to the white feline, smiled, and said, "Thanks Adrianne. I appreciate it." Without another word, the makeup artist packed up her equipment, and moved on to the next model that needed work.

Zoe said, "And the answer's yes. They're always this nuts."

She started to check out the look she was given, which was only a minor gloss to give her feathers a bit of a glow, along with long, thick, false eyelashes painted on in a glittering gold paint around her left eye only, reminiscent of a Clockwork Orange. Zoe stood up to pat down her feathers, allowing Falco to have a full look at her first outfit for the show. She had on a snuggly fitting gold corset that had a sewn-in black paisley pattern, and laced up in the back with silky black lace. On her lower body, she had a black and flowy, knee-length mesh skirt that showed off her legs well, along with a pair of glossy black stilettos that brought her up to eye-level with Falco.

Falco looked her up and down, taking in how stunning she looked in the outfit. He hardly even noticed Jean-Pierre approaching them until he was already standing next to Zoe, delicately carrying what Falco could only guess was another part of the outfit in his hands.

The arctic fox said, "Ah Zoe, my shining star. You look absolutely wonderful, though I'm sure you've already been told that."

The avian just laughed lightly in return. "Yes, Nadiya keeps telling me so," she said looking down to his hands, "What's that you have there?"

He smiled and said, 'Oh, just the pièce de résistance of your outfit, and Éthéré. Here, let me help you."

He twirled his finger, motioning for her to turn around. As she did so, he unhinged the strange garment in his hands that was seemingly plated with gold and had elegant black feathers adorning the edges. He reached around Zoe, bringing the thing around her neck, and locking it back together around her. It was now that Falco could recognize the garment as a golden neck brace, with the feathers coming out of the top and bottom edges, almost like an extension of Zoe's own plumage. While Zoe tugged on it lightly and tried to get a feel for her new accessory, Jean-Pierre grabbed the simple black fedora he had with him as well, positioning it carefully on top of her head.

He stood back to look at her finished outfit, and he immediately started to beam with excitement. "Wow…just…wow. You are absolutely perfect for this. You have no idea how proud this makes me," he said as he started to laugh, "Gorgeous." The white fox moved in to embrace the avian and lightly kissed her on each cheek, forcing her to smile. "You're going to do great, I know it. I'll be right on the side on the runway watching. Make me proud." With one last smile, he turned and walked towards the crowded stage area.

Zoe turned back to Falco, when he said, "Wow…that's…uh…interesting."

The black avian looked down herself with the outfit complete. "It definitely is. One thing you'll learn quickly is that the fashion industry…doesn't always make sense. It's not about clothing people would wear normally, but about what could be. Sort of like a concept car, you know?"

Falco laughed a bit. "No, I don't know. A neck brace? Really? That's supposed to be sexy?"

"It's not all about being sexy. Elegance is more like it. Don't worry about it, seriously. I didn't get it for a while either."

The blue avian laughed in response, while Zoe turned back to the vanity to size herself up again with the new accessories. Just then, a voice rang out nearby, "Hey! Bitch!"

Both avians, along with several others nearby, turned in the direction of the voice, only to see a tall, slender, silver-furred fox with pristine fur storming towards them, death in her eyes. She was wearing a blue, knee-length silk dress with thin straps that showed off her slender frame, and silver stilettos that were similar to Zoe's. With an expression of pure hatred on her face, she walked up to Zoe and stood face-to-face with her.

"What the fuck is the matter with you? You know this was my campaign, right?"

Zoe just looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The vixen put her hands on her hips, and shouted, "Oh, you know what I'm talking about. Don't bullshit me! You stole this campaign right from under me and I'm pissed as hell about it!"

Zoe's surprise dissolved away into a blank expression. "Oh, I guess you're Chantal. Nice to meet you," she said, facetiously outstretching a hand.

The silver fox smacked the hand away, continuing to shout, "Oh, fuck off! Don't give me that shit!"

As soon as the model struck Zoe, Falco moved in between the two, facing Chantal and harshly saying, "Is there a problem here, miss?"

The black avian behind him lightly pushed on his shoulder, and he turned back to look at her. "It's cool Falco, I got this." He stepped to the side, still keeping his guard up. He noticed that at this point, everyone around them had completely stopped what they were doing to watch the confrontation with prying eyes.

Zoe took a step closer to the vixen who still had her intense stare focused on her. The avian said, "Listen, I don't know much about this business. I'm new at this. But from what I do know, the best make it, the rest don't. Nothing personal, but looks like you need to step your game up."

Chantal pointed her finger into Zoe's chest and said, "Oh, it's very personal. That campaign was mine! Mine, damnit! And I come in one day to find out that some random little bitch took it away from me?"

Zoe interrupted, "Who are you calling a little bitch? I don't know who you think you're talking to, but you better step the fuck off before you find out."

"Or what?" the fox shouted, throwing out her arms, "I'm just waiting for you to fuck up and fall on your ass or something out there so I can have my top spot back, the one I deserve! I mean what the fuck is he thinking letting an amateur like you in a show like this?"

The black avian was slowly losing her temper. "Well if I'm such an amateur, why'd I take your spot? Huh? Looks like Jean-Pierre doesn't think as highly of you as you thought, now does he?"

The vixen was losing her temper as well. "Hey, same to you, bitch! You better watch yourself. You're just some amateur little cunt who doesn't know what the fuck she's dealing with!" she shouted while harshly shoving Zoe mid-sentence.

Before Chantal even finished her sentence, Zoe lost it. Not wavering even an inch from the shove, Zoe immediately reached across her body with her right hand and grabbed the vixen's wrist, before winding up her left hand across her body, unleashing a vicious chop into the side of Chantal's neck, which rang out a sickening crack. The vixen let out a choked gasp before staggering back, while all of the onlookers dropped their jaws at the sudden outburst.

Before the silver fox could find her footing, Zoe grabbed Chantal's left hand with her right, violently whipping the vixen towards her. With the fox's momentum driving forwards, Zoe quickly drove her left elbow into her gut, knocking the wind out of her lungs and violently dropping her to the floor.

Chantal lay motionless on the ground on her back gasping for air, completely stunned at the sudden onslaught against her. Zoe calmly walked over to the vixen on the ground and placed her foot calmly on her chest, slightly digging the point of the stiletto into the tender space underneath her sternum and between her lower ribs.

She choked out for breath while Zoe kept a healthy amount of her weight on the vixen below her. The avian knelt down and calmly said, "Touch me again, and see what happens. The only reason I didn't punch you in the face is because I don't want to fuck you up and give you a shiner right before the show, so consider yourself lucky. Now do yourself a favor, and don't ever talk to me again." She made sure to make eye contact with the menacing glare that she was directing at the fallen vixen to solidify her words.

Zoe stood back up to see everyone around her in mild shock and whispering amongst themselves. Turning around to face Falco, she saw him trying to keep himself from laughing, but not doing a good job of it. She went over to the vanity to fix the fedora atop her head, and then motioned to her bodyguard to follow her. They both walked off towards the stage area, leaving Chantal still gasping for breath on the floor.

* * *

"What the fuck is the matter with you? Are you trying to get arrested or something? The fucking cops were here asking questions!" Bernard half-shouted, trying to keep his voice down.

Wolf defensively said, "Hey, I know what I'm doing. I've been doing this a lot longer now, and I'm good at it. I'm not some fucking amateur like I was back then. Don't worry about it."

"Well, too late, I'm worried about it. Because not only are you handling this the wrong fucking way, but you're getting to get yourself in deep shit again!"

The canine was a bit taken aback. "I'm handling this the wrong way? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Bernard raised his voice a bit more, "Because you're supposed to be finding these people, not fucking killing them!"

Wolf interrupted, "They're not who I'm after. They're just the damn lackeys that can't tell me anything. And then I have to kill them because if I don't, they'll go to the higher-ups and tell 'em what's up."

"Well they obviously know something's up because all their people keep getting fucking murdered!"

Wolf went to shout, but remembering that it was two in the morning, kept himself in check. "Listen, just shut up, ok? This is my fight, not yours. Let me handle it, and stop getting in the middle of it."

The calico just stood there shaking his head with a deep frown on his face. "Sorry if I don't want to see you go down in flames again." He turned and went to the stairwell of the townhouse. "You know what these people are like. Just watch yourself, alright? I'll help out if you need me. Just don't get yourself caught,' he said as he walked down and out the front door.

The grey canine didn't say another word as he watched Bernard leave. He buried his head in his hands, and swore to himself as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and placed one in his mouth. Lighting the cigarette, he went over to the coffee table where he had set his gun. He picked it up and carried it over to the sink, grabbing a container of acetone from underneath. He calmly took a drag from his cigarette, exhaling through his nostrils as he dumped a small amount of the solvent onto a rag and began wiping the weapon clean of the spilled blood.


	13. Chapter 13

It had been a week since the fashion show, and Zoe was now sitting in Jean-Pierre's personal office within the building in which his work was centered. He sat across the desk from her with his attention centered on the monitor mounted in the corner behind her. The avian was slightly turned in her seat to watch the screen as well, which was showing footage from the fashion show. Neither said a word as they watched the models walk up and down the runway in consistent succession to the thumping beat of the music, until Zoe came from behind the curtain in her black and gold outfit. The aura she gave, even on recording, was simply breathtaking in comparison to the rest of the show. Her walk down the runway was so much more powerful, and she stole the show with it.

Jean-Pierre flicked the monitor off, and the avian turned back around to face him. He had a brightness in his eyes that she'd seen only when she was backstage that night.

"My dear Zoe, you were phenomenal, just like I told you."

She just laughed in response, unsure of what to say.

He continued, "Which brings me to why I asked you here today. This show was the biggest line of the year so far from anyone. I honestly believe it would not have been as big of a success if it were not for you and your phenomenal performance. I've never seen anything like that in a model's first show. Such…beauty, such power, such elegance, all at once." He shook his head, almost in disbelief. "I want you to keep working for me, to be the face of my every campaign. Essentially, to be the face of me."

Zoe was a bit surprised at his words. "Wow…that's quite an offer. I'm assuming that the pay grade will match the offer?"

He smiled and nodded. "Of course. I'll pay you what no other designer would, because I already know what you can do. All I ask is that you remain exclusive to me, and work for no other office."

The avian had a bit of a skeptical look on her face. "You want to monopolize me?"

Jean-Pierre laughed a bit. "Well when you put it like that, it doesn't sound so fair. I simply want you to remain exclusive, because when an illustrious commodity remains exclusive, it increases its value."

Zoe nodded a bit. "I hear ya." There was silence while she was visibly thinking. "See, I won't lie to you. This isn't a career for me. I don't want to get very deep into this, and I don't want to lead your every campaign." She watched his heart sink as she spoke. "That's not to say I won't work with you once in a while, but you must understand that I'm already in a successful business with Krystal, and I'm not going to leave that. It was fun, I'll be honest. But I don't think it's completely for me."

He quickly said, "But Zoe, your presence on the runway-"

"I know, I know," Zoe interrupted, "I get it. But it's just not what I want. But again, I'll work with you now and then when I'm in the city because it was definitely a fun experience. But you need to tell me something first…"

Jean-Pierre leaned forward onto his desk. "Anything. What?"

She hesitated a bit before saying, "Listen…there's no polite way to say this, so I'm just going to say it." The fox was suddenly a bit more concerned. "I'm not stupid. You must understand, I run a business myself. I know that your career was nothing special before this campaign. But still…" she said while throwing her arms out to the surroundings, "This is a nice office. This is a nice building, and you have nice equipment here. The clothes in that line were made of nice material, and the accessory I had on was made of gold. Fucking solid gold."

Jean Pierre's eyes became a bit harsh as she continued. "I know you're doing something on the side. You're paying for all this somehow, because your clothing lines aren't. And I'm pretty sure it's less than scrupulous, otherwise it would be no secret. It's not your family, because you've already told me about your background. No real money can come from that. Now I'm not saying that I want in on it, but I need to know what that is."

He sternly said, "Why would you need to know such a thing?"

Zoe harshly answered, "Because I don't work with people that I don't trust. I need to know what's going on, or I'm out."

"Zoe, I assure you that it's nothing of your concern. It's not important, really."

The avian calmly leaned back in her chair. "Well if it's not that important, why not just tell me?"

Jean-Pierre folded his hands, his face in a stoic disdain. "I assure you…" he repeated, "It's none of your concern," he said in a somewhat threatening tone.

Zoe returned his threatening glance as she stood up from her chair. "Fine," she said as she turned to the door, "It was nice meeting you."

She walked to the door and almost had her hand on the handle before his voice stopped her. "Wait…" She froze.

He said in a much calmer voice. "You really want to know?"

The avian turned back around to face him again, and nodded.

Jean-Pierre pulled a business card from the holder on his desk, and began jotting something down on the back of it. "You speak nothing of this, you hear me?" She nodded again.

He stretched out his hand with the business card in between his fingers. "I'm only doing this because you might be a benefit to me in places other than the runway. Nobody knows about this. Be here at midnight tonight. It's an old shipyard. And make sure you walk."

Zoe smiled while taking the card from his fingers. "I'll be there," she said before walking back towards the door.

"One last thing," the arctic fox said, making her stop, "Wear dark clothes…but look nice."

She nodded, and then turned to walk out the door of his office, a smirk slowly forming on her face.

* * *

Zoe walked through the piers that Jean-Pierre had led her to, dressed in a black knee-length, breasted trench coat with the sash tied about her middle and her hands in the pockets. The area was completely dark, lit only by the moon overhead. She was walking along a single, broken down road that was lined with brick warehouses on either side. The smell of seawater was in the air, even though she couldn't see where the water was from where she was walking. She could see why this was the place of choice for shady dealings like the one she was probably headed to. The avian looked up at the numbers on the warehouses along the sides of the single road to find number twelve, and the dock where he had told her to meet him. Constantly surveying the area, she kept her guard up the entire time, knowing that there could be someone lurking around the corner at any second.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally came across building number twelve, where she turned into an alley between the warehouses and ventured even deeper into the darkness. She could eventually hear the water lapping up against the sides of the dock, even though she could hardly see the water itself. Once she reached the end of the alley, she could see a series of large wooden docks on a long, concrete landing. The area was lit slightly better with the moon reflecting off the water from the inlet, and she now noticed an arctic fox standing on one of the docks off to her immediate right. He was wearing a black pea coat, and was visible only because of his brilliant white fur.

Zoe began walking over towards him, and he didn't notice her approaching until he heard her feet beneath the wooden planks of the dock he was on. He turned to her, his facial expression unchanging.

There was a moment of silence between them, until Jean-Pierre bluntly said, "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Zoe simply replied, "I'm here, aren't I?"

He didn't answer, and just moved to walk past her back towards the warehouses. They were walking along the landing for some distance before Zoe spoke up.

"Where are we going? I thought that was where we were meeting."

He answered, "That's where you and I were meeting. We're meeting them at another warehouse. I didn't want to run the risk of you showing up before I did."

Zoe turned to him. "Why would that matter?"

He turned to look at her and said, "Because they'd kill you."

The avian was silent for a moment as his terse words hung in the air. "Well that's great," she said as she pulled out her cell phone to check the time. As soon as it lit up, Jean-Pierre immediately snatched it out of her hand and buried the screen into his chest.

Zoe started, "What the-" when the arctic fox across from her interrupted.

"No light! Nobody can know we're here," he said in a harsh whisper. Zoe held up her hands defensively until the screen went dim. He gently handed the phone back to her with a scowl still on his face.

He said, "You better not fuck this up. Just don't say anything once we get there, got it? Let me talk. I know these people already."

Zoe just nodded lightly as they started to walk along the landing again. The moon suddenly went behind a cloud, shrouding the area in an even deeper darkness.

The avian asked, "What exactly is going on here anyway? You still haven't told me."

Jean-Pierre sighed, mulling over his words for a moment before saying, "I sell weapons underground."

Zoe feigned shock. "Uhh…say what?"

He looked to her. "You heard me. I sell firearms illegally. I meet people in the club I met you at in fact, and then arrange to make a sale at this other warehouse I rent out. I've been doing it for years."

She said, "Christ…that wasn't my first guess." There was a bit of an awkward silence. "What are we doing though? I mean here, tonight."

"I'm receiving a shipment from the higher-ups. About once a week I come here and get what I ask for from a bunch of thugs."

"Who sends them?"

The arctic fox turned to her and said, "That…is not something you need to know."

Zoe chuckled to herself a bit. "Remember how I said I don't work with people I can't trust?"

He quickly answered, "Quite right. And you need to understand that I operate the same way."

"Are you saying you don't trust me?"

Jean-Pierre scoffed a bit. "Please. I've been doing this for years, like I said. The quickest way to be cut out of a chain is to replicate your link. It's a system, you see. The people who make these weapons want to sell them underground, but aren't connected enough to do it themselves. So they give them to me because they know that I know enough people to make the sales. I give them back the money from the sales after taking a cut off the top."

He checked his watch before continuing. "Honestly, I think you could sell them better than I, because you have a lot more…appeal, if you understand me. That's the reason I said I think you can be a benefit here. I'd take you back to the club with me a few times until you know everyone, and then you can sell the stuff on your own. It's just adding another link to the chain. I buy from the source, then pass it on to you."

Zoe thought for a moment before saying, "But wouldn't that cut your profits by adding someone else in?"

"Well my hope is that with the increase in sales from having someone like you doing the selling, we'd make even more. Maybe we wouldn't make as much. Who knows? But money isn't the only reason I wanted to bring you into this…"

The avian turned to him with a confused look on her face. He turned to meet her eyes and said, "I won't lie to you Zoe. With your help of course, my fashion career has taken off. My sales have been fantastic, even only a week after the show. You were right. I was doing this to supplement my lackluster business, but I'm not sure I need that anymore. I'd like you to replace me here."

Zoe's eyes widened. "What? Are you crazy? You want me to start selling arms illegally?"

"Yes, I do. Now of course I can't force you. I'll show you all the ropes so you know what's going on, which is essentially why I invited you here tonight. I'd bring you to _Mystique_ to make sure you know all the regular clientele, and generally show you how this all works."

The black avian was quite taken aback. "You must be joking. I'm a businesswoman Jean, and now I'm a model thanks to you. Why the fuck would I want to get into something like this?"

He tersely answered, "I don't know, but a lot of people get into this for no good reason at all. I did it because I needed the money, but half the people I work with don't need it. Maybe they feel like a crime lord or something, I don't know. I'm not forcing you into this. I'm just telling you what I want to happen."

"Well Christ, don't expect me to jump into this right away, if at all. Hell, I think this is nuts altogether," she said throwing out her arms at the surroundings.

Jean-Pierre said, "I wouldn't expect you to just jump into it. Give it time, and then let me know. It's really not as crazy as it all might seem right now. But I haven't made up my mind either. If I decide to get out of the chain for good, I'll introduce you to the source. Then it's all on you."

Silence befell the two once again as they turned down another alley between two buildings and into the dense darkness once again.

"We're here," Jean-Pierre said as they eventually came up to a steel door on one of the buildings, and he softly knocked on it twice.

Through the dead silence, Zoe could hear footsteps steadily approaching the door in front of them. At their loudest, they stopped, followed by a deep voice.

"Who's that?" said the voice behind the door.

"It's me," answered Jean-Pierre, "I'm here for the pickup."

The metallic clanging of at least two deadbolts could be heard before the door slowly opened. A tall, very muscular German Sheppard stood in the doorway, completely blocking the entrance, as he was almost as big as the frame itself. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a pair of dark sunglasses.

The huge canine said, "It's ready," in a deep, booming voice. He turned to face Zoe, his already stoic disposition becoming slightly more intimidating. "Who's this?"

Jean-Pierre answered, "She's with me. Don't worry about it."

The canine continued to eye her up and down before turning back to the arctic fox. "You know we don't let others in like this."

"Of course I know that. She's my new partner, so I figured I'd bring her along."

Still not tearing his eyes from her, the German Sheppard said, "I don't like her. I'm not letting her in."

Zoe immediately retorted, "Fuck you," with a disgusted expression.

She went to continue, but Jean-Pierre moved in between the two, putting a finger up to the avian's face. "Zoe, shut up." He turned around to face the canine in the door, throwing out his hands a bit. "She's fine, alright? Let her in or we can forget the whole thing."

The giant just laughed. "You're not gonna do that. You have too much to lose."

"Really? Try me," said the arctic fox in a harsh tone.

There was a tense silence before the dog turned his attention back to Zoe. He nodded and said, "You a cop?"

She answered with a harsh, "No."

"Bullshit," was the only retort from the German Sheppard.

The avian folded her arms and said, "You ever heard of entrapment? If I was a cop, I'm not allowed to lie about it. Figured someone in organized crime should know that."

Nobody said anything for some time until the canine turned and went back through the door. Jean-Pierre went to move through the door as well, before turning back to Zoe and shooting her a blank, but uneasy glance.

They walked through the door and into the mostly empty warehouse, which was lit only by a few dim, overhead lights. The floor was completely open and the only things in the place were a few wooden crates that were arranged along the walls. The place was big, and seemed a bit excessive for what was stored there. The large canine was headed towards the front of the warehouse and the retractable garage doors that seemingly led to the road outside. A dark sedan was parked by one of these doors with a Husky leaning on the side. The canine had white and black fur typical of a normal Husky, and he had on a dark jacket much like the German Sheppard. He had a cigarette in his hand that was giving off soft wisps of smoke in the dim light from the lamp overhead. He took a final drag from it, billowing the smoke from his nostrils before throwing it on the ground and stamping it out.

He took a few steps forward from the car towards the three approaching him. He smiled a bit and said with a French accent, "Ahh, Jean, so good to see you yet again."

The arctic fox outstretched his hand, taking the Husky's and saying, "But of course."

Turning his attention to Zoe, his face sinking into a mild disdain. "And who might you be?"

Before she could say anything, Jean-Pierre chimed in, "She's my new partner. Helping me with sales."

He folded his arms, not breaking his stare from the fox. "Why do you need help selling?"

Jean-Pierre turned to look at Zoe. "Look at her. You'd buy from her just to have a word, wouldn't you?"

The Husky eyed her up and down with prying eyes, much like the German Sheppard did earlier. He chuckled a bit after a long, tense silence. "Yeah, I get it. Besides, if you were a cop, you'd already be dead," he said shooting a glance at the gargantuan canine across from him. He walked over to the trunk of the car, sticking in a key and turning it.

"You know the drill," the Husky said while Jean-Pierre moved to stand next to him. Zoe stood in place, watching the two behind the car carefully. The fox peered into the trunk for a while, examining its contents. He pulled out what looked like a 9mm Glock and looked at it from all angles before cocking it.

The arctic fox said, "Looks good to me." He pulled out an AK-47 assault rifle. "Well this is new."

The Husky said, "He wants you to try pushing those on the regulars. See if you can try and reel them into more expensive stuff, you know?"

Jean-Pierre shook his head and sighed. "I'll see what I can do. No promises though."

"No, I understand. I know your clients aren't into heavy artillery. We're just experimenting here."

The fox put the assault rifle back in the trunk and shut the hatch. "Alright, I'll let you know how it goes. Don't expect miracles though."

They turned to face one another, and the Husky dangled a single key on a ring in the air. "You have last week's profits, right?"

Jean-Pierre laughed a bit. "Don't I always?" he said pulling a folded, sealed manila envelope from the breast pocket inside his coat. "Ten grand."

They traded hands, and the Husky pocketed the envelope. "See you next week," he said before walking towards the other side of the warehouse, the German Sheppard following close behind. Jean-Pierre motioned Zoe to get in the car while he climbed into the driver's seat. While she walked to the other side of the car, he pushed a button on a small remote on the sun visor and the door in front of the car began to rise.

She climbed in the car and asked, "Are they always that warm and friendly?"

Jean-Pierre laughed a bit. "Well, when you deal with things like this, you have to be wary of everyone. It's just good business."

As the car pulled out onto the single road outside the warehouse, Zoe said, "Yeah, well…they don't have to be dicks about it."

"They'll warm up to you the more they see you. You'll get used to it though. Many people in this line of work are like that. They think they have more power than they really do."

The car sped off away from the piers and into the night, while Zoe stared out her window to the dim stars overhead.


	14. Chapter 14

"Holy shit…you just showed up at the piers and drove away with a trunk full of Glocks?"

Panther sat at his kitchen table, a bit aghast at the story Zoe just finished telling. Wolf stood over at the kitchen counter making a pot of coffee, intently listening as well.

The avian who was also seated at the table said, "I know right? It's kind of a crazy operation they have set up. They meet about once a week, thugs from up top give him a car full of stuff they want to sell, and then they pick up the car from his office sometime during the week. It's pretty steady."

The feline across from her shook his head a bit. "Wow, that was a lot less work than I thought it would be."

"What do you mean?" asked Zoe.

"We're in. You're in the middle of the chain we're trying to tear down."

Zoe looked a bit confused and said, "Well…not really. I don't know where the stuff is coming from. He told me he wouldn't tell me so he wouldn't get cut off."

Panther smartly replied, "Well yeah, but he told you he wanted you to take his place right? So just work with him a while and take over. What's so hard about that?"

Wolf set three mugs of coffee on the table before whipping the cell phone out of his pocket. "I'm gonna call Creswell and give him an update. Asshole's been calling me nonstop so maybe a breakthrough will make him shut up for a bit," he said while holding the phone up to his ear and walking out of the room.

After watching the canine walk out of the room, Zoe turned back to Panther, suddenly with a sterner look on her face. "I'm not gonna be a link in a fucking black market cartel, man. I'll just work with him and get on his good graces enough for him to tell me."

He shook his head with a blank expression. "It's not going to work."

She quickly retorted, "What do you mean it's not gonna work? He's practically in love with me. He'll tell me."

"He's a freakin' black market dealer," Panther said," He's not an idiot. There's no way he's going to tell you unless he knows you'll take over. Even if he wants out, he can't bust up the chain without someone to replace him. Otherwise they'll fuckin' kill him, and he knows that. But if he tells you, how does he know you're not going to just back out, and then they'll kill him if they find out he revealed his source. And then they'll come kill you."

Zoe was a bit taken aback. "Christ, you really thought this out."

Panther said, "No, but they work the same everywhere. You don't get out until you're expendable, or you're dead."

The avian took a sip of the coffee that was now in front of her, mulling over her thoughts. "So if it's so east to get killed, why would I want to get into this?"

"It's the only way we have to take this company down. Can you seriously think of a better way to prove what this Malveux guy is doing other than to get involved with it?"

She sighed and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. "This is so screwed up. I really feel like I'm getting in over my head here."

The feline shrugged. "It's what we do. Our lives are on the line every day."

Suddenly, Wolf walked back in the room while pressing a few buttons on his phone with a surprised look on his face. Before anyone could say anything, he violently tossed his phone on the table and started ranting, "Jesus Christ, that guy is pissing me off to no end! We actually have something positive to report, and he just bitches."

Panther cut him off before he could continue. "Say what? What was he saying to you?"

Wolf sat down and sighed while putting his face in his hands. "He said we're being too forward. Says we should just be breaking into the company and looking for incriminating documents and shit like that."

Zoe lowered her eyebrows and said, "Is he serious? He wants us to tear a whole building apart looking for it? The company headquarters is a fucking skyscraper for Christ's sake! Where are we supposed to even start looking?"

Wolf looked at her and said, "I know, it's stupid. We're just gone keep doing what we're doing. His ideas are retarded and I'm not putting up with it. We'll just get the job done, and he'll pay us no matter how we do it."

Panther silently and tentatively picked up the phone Wolf had thrown on the table, only to have the front screen fall off, leaving it dangling in place by a mass of wires. "Uhh…think your phone's broken."

The canine just shook his head and threw his hands up. "Nope…don't care. It's not my phone. Not even gonna worry about it. Creswell can't call me now, so looks like Fox is gonna get the pissed off calls now."

Wolf put his hands on the table and let out another deep sigh before turning his eyes to Zoe. "So what's next? We should probably think this through."

She sipped her coffee before saying, "Well…I was just going to kind of go along and see where it takes me. He wants me to go to Mystique with him this weekend to start to get to know his customers."

Wolf leaned into the table a bit. "We need to plan this whole thing out. This is getting risky with you on the inside. I don't want to see any surprises while this is all going on."

Zoe replied, "I really don't think it's that serious. I'm telling you, once I get in really good with him, he'll at least tell me where his supplies are coming from. As soon as I know that it's directly from the company and not stolen goods, we can move."

Wolf went to speak when Panther cut in. "He's not gonna do that, I just told you. Those people are gonna fuckin' kill him if he tells."

Zoe crossed her arms and sternly said, "And how are they gonna know he told me unless I tell them?"

The feline shook his head. "No one can ever figure out how the black market knows what it does. They just do."

Wolf butted back in. "Panther, as much as I think you're right…there's really no harm in trying." He turned to Zoe and shrugged. "If you can't get it out of him…then just take over when he wants you to. It won't be long, and once you find out where the stuff's coming from, we'll turn the info over to the Creswell and they'll figure out the rest. We'll get our checks and get the hell off this planet before the chain can even figure out it's going down."

There was a silence while Panther and Wolf both looked to Zoe. She was staring at the ground, clearly in deep thought. After a while, Wolf gently said, "Does that sound like a good plan to you…Zoe?"

She looked at him uneasily. "Yeah…I guess there's not much else to do. I don't know, I…just…"

She hung her mouth open, caught on her words when Panther asked, "Just what?"

Zoe looked to the floor again with her arms folded. "This is new to me. I'm worried is all."

Wolf replied, "Worried about what?"

She sighed. "You didn't see those guys at the warehouse. They were fucking scary, man. I'm just afraid I'm getting in over my head here, you know?"

Panther smiled at her. "You'll be fine. You're a lot tougher than you think."

Her eyes widened a bit as she suspired, "Yeah, well…we'll see how it goes." She got up from the table and walked towards the staircase leading downstairs without another word.

Once she left, Panther looked to Wolf and shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure what's up with her. I feel like she's making this out to be a bigger deal than it is."

The canine shrugged as he stood up from the table and moved to walk out of the room. "You're probably right. But whatever. All we can do is hope for the best and hope no one gets killed."

* * *

Zoe sat next to Jean-Pierre in the VIP room of Mystique on the same black couch that he was on the day he first approached her. It was off in the far corner by the bar, and nearly everyone who came in the lounge stopped to talk to him, and subsequently was introduced to Zoe. The arctic fox had told her to dress a little more edgy than she had the day they met so that she would blend in slightly better with the avant-garde atmosphere. She wore black silk, spaghetti-strap dress that ended at the knees on one side and tapered off to a loose, flowing point at her ankle on the other, along with a pair of matching strapped heels. Around her neck was a thin leather choker with small silver spikes around it, and she also had a similar band around her left wrist. She wasn't too fond of gothic-style attire, but she definitely pulled off the edgy look Jean-Pierre was looking for in a bold, yet strangely elegant way.

She was carrying on a conversation with someone whose name she'd already forgotten that was standing near the couch she was on, while the arctic fox did the same with another presumable client. Zoe noticed that the corner she was in seemed to be the apex of activity in the room, and it soon became evident that Jean-Pierre was quite the socialite. Though she was engaged in her own conversations much of the time, she could still tell that many of the people were his clients. She heard tidbits of information about sales, potential sales, and Jean-Pierre's merchandise. Eventually, she cut off all of her own conversations and focused on what the fox was doing.

"So just the usual I take it?" he just finished saying to a tall raccoon gentleman that stood on the side of the couch near him.

He scratched his chin a bit while thinking. "Maybe I'll pick up a bit more than usual. Things with me are getting…a bit out of hand, if you get me."

Jean-Pierre laughed a bit before answering, "Of course. I understand. Come by my office after hours on Monday. We'll talk."

The raccoon took a sip from his martini before nodding. "I'll see you then," he softly said before turning back towards the bar.

Jean-Pierre turned to face Zoe after he left, who noticed a faint glimmer in his eye. "To be honest, it's mostly the same people you see time and time again. There are rarely once-only customers. And if there ever are any, you always need to ask how he knows about you."

Zoe took a sip from her drink before putting on a questioning expression. "What do you mean?"

The fox turned to scan the room slowly while he spoke. "You can't trust anyone. Never forget that. If someone comes up to you asking to make a purchase, you always ask how he knows about you. If he doesn't name someone you know or is vague about it, then he's definitely a cop. If he names someone you know, then assume he's a cop. Beat around the bush, and make him ask for what he wants. Never tell him what you do. If he names it, then ask him if he's a cop. He can't lie, or it's entrapment. You know that. That's basically the golden rule of dealing. Trust no one."

Zoe just nodded in acknowledgment. He continued, "The other general rule is to always be aware of your surroundings."

The avian turned to look at him, but he was still staring off into the lounge. She asked, "What do you mean by that?"

He nodded gently towards the bar before turning to her. "See that tiger over there by himself? Don't look right away."

After a moment, she turned inconspicuously towards the bar to try and see to whom he was referring. She saw an orange and white furred tiger sitting at the bar alone, staring into a vodka and cranberry. He was dressed in a pair of black slacks with a dark blazer. He was a bit muscular, bit nothing obscene enough to gain the attention of the whole room.

The avian turned back to Jean-Pierre. "Yeah, what about him?"

He answered while still scanning the room. "He's been watching us since he walked in here."

Zoe was taken aback a bit. "What?" she said while taking another look. "He just looks like he's drowning himself in his drink. What's he got to do with anything?"

Jean-Pierre replied, "He's going to talk to us soon. No one comes here by themself unless they're going to talk to me. Not only that, but he's been looking over at us the whole damn night. Just give it a minute."

She was a bit surprised at his words, but she kept her composure and darted her eyes between the feline and the rest of the room. Before she could even think of something to say in return, the tiger downed his drink and stood up before walking towards them.

The avian said under her breath. "Shit, you weren't kidding."

The fox put his drink up to his lips and said, "I never am," before taking a sip.

She eyed the feline up as he approached them, gauging as much as she could about him before he even said a word. To her he seemed confident, but uneasy at the same time. His actions carried a slight anger to them, almost as though he was on a mission of some sort.

Feigning unawareness, Jean-Pierre raised his eyebrows a bit as soon as the feline approached them, smiling politely. "Well hello, how are you?"

"Well, thank you," the large tiger said in a French accent. "I think you know what I'm here about."

Continuing his façade of ignorance, the fox shook his head slightly. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

The tiger laughed to himself and put his hands in his pocket while looking at the floor. He looked up slightly while saying, "Don't pull that shit with me. I know what you are."

Jean-Pierre laughed a bit himself. "I am many things. What exactly ware you referring to?"

The feline answered, "I'm friends with Randall…I want to buy from you."

The arctic fox sipped his drink slowly. "How do you know Randall?"

"He's an old friend of mine. Recently he's become a business partner."

Jean-Pierre raised his eyebrows slightly while crossing his legs. "Randall's line of work is a bit…dishonest so to speak, no?"

The tiger shifted in place a bit. "You're right…that's why I'm here. I need a bit of…reassurance, so to speak."

The fox nodded while sipping his drink again. "I see, I see…" he said before taking a business card out of his pocket. He handed it slowly to the tiger standing in front of him. "Give me a call on Monday. We'll talk."

He took the card carefully and placed it in his pocket before saying, "Of course. We'll be in touch." The tiger turned around and made his way calmly towards the exit.

Zoe turned to him and said, "I take it he knows a client of yours?"

He coolly answered, "Randall's a client of mine, yes. I'll pick the guy's brain later when he calls me before I decide whether or not to sell to him. Don't ever make a sale to someone unless you're absolutely sure it's safe. If you have even a shred of doubt, it could be your downfall."

Zoe held her martini glass in her lap while nodding softly. The whole operation was more than sketchy to her, and she was beyond out of her comfort level. The thought lingered in the back of her mind that she was in over her head, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

* * *

It was the middle of the night, and just after last call. Zoe and Jean-Pierre walked through a mostly empty parking garage across the street from Mystique, the only light in the area being the dim overhead lights at the corners of the garage.

The avian sighed and said, "You really don't have to drive me home. I have plenty of money for a cab, I told you."

The arctic fox scoffed a bit. "Nonsense. A pretty thing like you doesn't need public transport. It's my pleasure, really."

Zoe laughed uneasily. "If you say so…."

As they walked in the fresh silence, they both noticed footsteps behind them, seemingly following along. They continued to walk until Zoe noticed the black sedan that she and Jean-Pierre had driven away from the piers the night she was introduced to the whole operation.

She widened her eyes a bit and asked, "You drove that thing here tonight?"

He put his hands in his pockets and said, "Some clients don't have the time to meet me during the week. A lot of times I meet them here after hours and sell to them."

The footsteps grew louder, and the knot in Zoe's stomach grew thicker as they approached the car. As soon as the two were an arm's length away from the sedan, Jean-Pierre turned on his heels to look behind them. The avian braced herself and did the same, only to see the tiger in black clothes from the bar behind them.

There was an awkward silence where everyone was silent and unsure of what to say. Eventually, the arctic fox said, "Why are you here? I told you to call me during the week."

The feline kept a stoic silence, and the wind softly breezed amongst them in ominous silence. Zoe's eyes quickly darted between the fox next to her and the feline only a few short steps in front of them as they shared venomous glares. The tension between them raised exponentially the longer the silence continued.

Suddenly without warning, the tiger stepped towards Jean-Pierre, his gaze not breaking for an instant. The fox said, "Listen, I don't have a problem selling to you. Just not now. Call me on Monday and we'll set up an arrangement."

The feline stopped cold in his tracks. He said, "Oh…I don't think that'll be necessary."

Without warning, he raised a pistol from his pocket and pointed it between Jean-Pierre's eyes. Before the fox could even interject, an ear-splitting shot rang throughout the garage. Zoe recoiled violently at the sudden outburst, and when she regained her composure, she only saw Jean-Pierre spread-eagle on the cold concrete floor, with a bleeding wound in the middle of his forehead.

The avian stood in an appalled silence, taking in the gruesome image in front of her. She watched as the fox's eyes froze open in shock while the hole in between them bled out slowly, tainting his pristine white fur in pure red horror. She slowly averted her attention to the feline standing in front of him with the smoking gun. He slowly lowered his hand to his side, pocketing the gun in his coat as nonchalantly as he pulled it out.

Almost as if he didn't notice she was there, he quickly diverted his attention to Zoe while pulling the pistol from his pocket again. "Nobody needs to know about this," he said quietly while pointing the weapon at her face.

Before he could even blink, Zoe shifted her weight back and swung her foot up to meet his hand, deftly knocking the gun from his grip and sending it hurtling across the parking garage.

After watching his gun fly several yards away, the tiger slowly turned to the avian in front of him, who now had both fists raised in a defensive posture. He laughed a bit and said, "Wow, didn't pick you as much of a fighter."

Zoe harshly said, "No one ever does."

The feline just kept laughing. "You're not making it out of here alive. I hope you know that." He started to take steps towards her. "Nobody fucks with my business and gets away with it." Zoe started to step back slowly as he approached her. "See, he started moving in on my turf. I'm sure you don't know it, but I'm one of them too. I deal weapons the same way he does," he said pointing towards the lifeless corpse, "But you don't steal my clients and expect me to just deal with it. No."

Zoe's adrenaline was coursing through her veins more and more. "I have no idea what they fuck you're talking about. I really don't."

The feline shook his head as he kept walking towards her. "I didn't expect you to. But you just watched me kill him in cold blood. And that was the biggest mistake of your life."

As soon as he finished his words, the tiger lunged forward with his fist aimed directly at Zoe's face. She quickly defended herself by meeting his hand with her arms crossed in front of her face. Catching him off guard with such a sudden block, she quickly kicked at his right knee, the point of her heel hitting the side of his kneecap, causing his leg to collapse slightly in sheer pain.

Staggering backwards, the tiger had to defend himself on his heels as he barely blocked Zoe's sudden flying kick with his forearm before raising his fists into a defensive position himself. With the momentum of the fight suddenly shifted, Zoe quickly volleyed a series of punches at the feline that were only met with equally quick forearm blocks. The tiger tried to counterattack quickly with a hefty right jab, which the avian managed to dodge easily by moving her head to the side. With her assailant off balance, Zoe raised her left leg to deliver a devastating front kick to the jaw, but he predicted it quickly by crossing both of his arms in front of his face. Anticipating the defense, she quickly dropped her leg to the ground and shifted all her weight forward while winding up her left arm across her body. Not catching the blow that he was expecting, the tiger dropped his guard to anticipate the avian's next blow, only to see the venomous eyes in front of him while her arm swung towards him. While the feline's arms were at his sides, rendering him completely defenseless, Zoe drove her left wrist into the tiger's neck. The spiked wristband she wore proved to be all too lethal, and the small metal spikes dove into his flesh, piercing his jugular.

The standard recoil from such a blow didn't follow, as Zoe's edgy accessory stuck itself into the feline's crucial blood vessel for some time before she forcibly pulled her arm back towards herself. The tiger carried a shocked expression as he slowly put a hand to his fresh wound, inspecting the soft bleeding. Suddenly, the slow bleeding turned into a gush as he put his palm over the gash, trying to forcibly stop the bleeding, but failing miserably. With both hands clutched to his throat, the tiger fell to his knees, and then to the ground before heavily sighing what would inevitably be his last breath.

Zoe just stood there breathing heavily and trying to compose herself. She inspected her left arm and noticed the substantial spatter of blood resulting from the initial entry wound, and then turned her attention to the feline before her that was slowly bleeding out onto the cold concrete. There was a tangible silence that hung in the air as Zoe's eyes darted between both of the corpses in front of her, before averting to the black sedan parked only yards away from her. A siren off in the distance jarred her from her trance before she let out an exasperated sigh and darted towards the car that she knew was packed full of illegal weapons.


	15. Chapter 15

Bernard sat on the stoop of his townhouse, watching the wisps of smoke leave his lips slowly in the still night air. There weren't many people in the area at the moment as last call had already been some time before. He looked up to the sky hoping to see the stars overhead, but instead only seeing pure blackness. Not even a glimmer of light could be seen in the sky.

Breaking the peaceful, ambient quiet was the sudden squeal of tires on pavement that grew progressively louder. Not thinking anything of it, Bernard took another drag from his cigarette. Suddenly, a car whipped around the corner onto the street, and the calico averted his eyes to the speeding car. It was a black sedan that was being driven quite erratically as the engine revved loudly, and he furrowed his brow a bit at the sight. The car's tires squealed again as it came to a sudden halt right in front of the stoop that Bernard sat on. It wasn't until the car stopped completely that he noticed the frantic black avian in the driver's seat.

Zoe rushed out of the car as Bernard calmly stepped down to the sidewalk. He put up his hands a bit and said, "Whoa…calm down. What are you-" He stopped suddenly when he noticed the red sheen on the spiked wristband on her left wrist. His eyes trailed up her left arm where he noticed a faint dampness matting some of her feathers. Turning back to meet her eyes, he saw her exasperated expression and heavy breathing.

She took a few more labored breaths as she put her hands on the sides of her head and softly, but harshly said, "They killed him. They fucking killed him!"

Bernard put his hands on her shoulders in attempt to calm her down. "Zoe, what are you talking about. Who killed someone?"

She turned to the side, putting out her bloody hand and looked at it. "This guy…" She was close to hyperventilating. "Another dealer…I was with Jean-Pierre…and he…he fucking shot him."

Bernard looked to the ground as he kept his hands on her shoulders. "Ok…ok…listen. Let's just go inside, cool off, and we'll talk it out in the morning. I'll just sleep on your couch…" he trailed off as he looked to the car, eyes widening a bit. He bent down a bit to meet Zoe's gaze with a questioning look as she still stared off to the side. "Where did this car come from?"

She turned back to him, putting her bloodied hand to her forehead. "I took it. I fucking killed the guy…and took Jean's car."

The calico was suddenly speechless as his eyes widened even more. Zoe looked into his eyes, hoping to find comfort, but only getting shock. She just kept breathing as Bernard collected his thoughts. "You killed him?" he suddenly whispered in a harsh tone. She nodded.

His head darted back and forth as he looked both ways up the street. "And you fucking came here?" The avian only winced a bit in response. "You fucking stole a car from a dead guy and came here? Jesus Christ, we have to get out of here," he said as he turned and quickly grabbed a visored motorcycle helmet from the stoop behind him. He put it on and made his way to the black street bike in front of the car.

"Follow me," he said over his shoulder, "We have to get rid of that."

Zoe climbed back in the driver's seat, bumbling around with the keys and pedals. She still wasn't used to the type of car on this planet, and even driving here was process of trial and error. Once she got the car started, Bernard pulled off quickly, and she peeled off after him.

* * *

Zoe and Bernard stood across the street, watching the car burn in an abandoned lot. The calico had lit up another cigarette while she just stood there with her arms crossed. He billowed smoke out through his nose before letting out a long sigh.

He turned to Zoe and said, "You're going to have to deal with this…you know that."

She pinched the space between her eyes and sighed. "Yeah…I know." They both stared at the dancing flames. Her arms crossed again, and she said, "So fucked up…" The shaken avian began to shake her head. "What the hell did I get into?"

Still looking to the torching car, Bernard said, "I wish you'd told me before getting in with the fashion designer. This city…you can't get into shit like that unless you're ready for it."

Zoe looked to the ground. "What do you mean?" she uneasily asked.

The calico took a long breath through his cigarette. "I wasn't ready for it. That's how I ended up in prison."

There was a long pause where the air was silent except for the crackling blaze across the street. She said softly, "But how can you ever be ready for this?"

An even longer silence followed. "I…don't think you ever can be…"

They both just stood there staring into the soft glow in front of them. Zoe turned to walk down the sidewalk towards Bernard's bike. "Just take me back to the house. We need time to sort this shit out."

The calico watched her slowly walk down the street, heels clacking on the sidewalk as he finished off his cigarette. He tossed the dim ember into the street and took a last look at the makeshift bonfire. It reminded him just what Bayeux was all about.

* * *

"So…what does this mean? For this operation I mean," Krystal asked, only being answered by silence. The six mercenaries sat around the kitchen table joined by their feline host. Zoe had just finished telling them the events from the previous night, and the heavy information that the black avian was in imminent danger was weighing down on them. She just stared at the floor, withdrawing herself from the conversation entirely once she told what had happened.

Bernard was the first to speak. "I'm not trying to be a cynic here…but I'm not going to lie. There's no way out at this point."

Panther leaned into the table on his elbows. "Well we were talking before about taking over the designer's business like he wanted. That's…only the obvious thing to do at this point."

Falco chimed in, "No. That is way too dangerous to do. We have to go back to square one and find another way in."

The black feline furrowed his brow. "What? That could take weeks, maybe even months. We're not gonna find another way in like we have here."

The avian across from him leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "Is it worth risking Zoe's life? These people are crazy, man. We don't have a time limit here, so I think it's best to just cut our losses and get out now."

Panther raised his voice a bit. "What if someone saw her kill the guy? What if someone saw them torch that fucking car? You said it yourself. These people are crazy, and they might come and kill her if they know. We have to keep pursuing this in case they know something."

Falco's voice became a bit louder as well. "Dude, they didn't see shit. If they knew what happened, they'd have probably busted down the door already. I don't think she's in danger, but she will be if she gets in any deeper than she already is!"

Wolf audibly set his hands on the table before saying, "Guys, let's shut up for a minute. Not to be demeaning, but Fox and I call the shots here." The canine turned his attention to the so far quiet captain at the table across from him. "What are your thoughts on all this?"

All eyes suddenly shifted to Fox who just uneasily darted his eyes between everyone else at the table. He eventually sighed and said, "Honestly…I don't know how I feel about it. There's a lot going on here and I think we should lay low for a bit to think it all through."

The canine answered, "Couldn't agree more. Let's…uh…just sit on it for a bit before making a decision. Fox and I will talk it over in a while and let everyone know."

With a few confirmatory nods, the group started to get up from the table when Zoe spoke. "With all due respect, to both of you guys, it's my life on the line. I think I should get to decide what happens here."

All eyes were fixated on her stern expression. Everyone sat back down from half-standing positions to hear her words. "Aside from what we did with those missiles, I'm the only one who's done anything this whole mission," she said with a certain bluntness, catching everyone off guard.

She sat back in her chair and folded her arms. "I don't like the fact that you two," she said pointing between Fox and Wolf, "Are just fuckin' gonna call the shots when I'm the one doing all of this. This is my ass on the line, and I'm not just gonna follow orders when I'm the only one in the fray like this."

Wolf put a hand and motioned for her to calm down. "Listen, it's not like that-"

Zoe interrupted him, "What the fuck do you mean it's not like that?" she said with a suddenly louder voice, drastically increasing the tension in the room. "You just sat there and said that you and Fox were going to figure this out alone!" she shouted while pointing at the opposite captain.

The grey canine sighed and scratched his head, visibly annoyed. "Zoe, I get that you're scared, but-"

"You're god damn right I'm scared!" she interjected. The room fell silent as everyone looked into the worried, exasperated eyes of the black avian. She stared down Wolf as she continued. "Did you just watch some guy fucking shoot Jean right in the face back there?" she asked while throwing her pointing hand to the wall. "Did you just have someone point a gun between your eyes and have your life flash in front of you? Did you just kill someone in cold blood with your bare hands?" Her voice kept growing in volume as she spoke. "I've had plenty of guns pointed at me before, but I have never had someone stare me down like that guy did. His eyes were colder than ice and I really thought I had taken my last breath. I am scared out of my god damned mind right now because I have no idea if someone's going to come busting down the door because they just watched me kill a fucking dealer! My life's been in danger a lot, but you have no idea what I'm dealing with right now. You weren't at that warehouse that night. These people are fucking crazy and I don't think I can deal with that."

She sank back in her chair while her words hung in the air. Wolf just stared back at her, more than surprised at her sudden outburst. Her eyes were still wide as she swallowed harshly. The canine's eyes darted to Fox across from him, who shared his surprised expression.

After a moment of wordless communication between the two, Fox turned to Zoe and said, "Ok…we understand." The avian sighed a bit as he continued. "Just…let it sit. We'll talk about this later."

Zoe just nodded, not making eye contact with anyone as she stood up and silently walked out of the room, burying her face in her hands in frustration as she did so. Everyone just awkwardly looked at each other, waiting for someone to say something.

Panther was first to break the silence. "Well…looks like she's not handling this all too well."

Bernard leaned in and laced his fingers on the table. "Actually, she's taking this better than a lot of people I've seen in this business."

The black feline furrowed his brow a bit. "Did we just hear the same outburst?"

The calico stared him straight in the eye and answered, "She's still alive, isn't she?"

* * *

Zoe splashed some water on her face and rubbed it into her feathers. She sighed heavily as she stared into the bathroom sink, thoughts racing through her head. Her eyes darted up to the mirror to stare back her frazzled, exasperated reflection. It was a new sight to her, and at first she almost didn't recognize herself.

A light knock on the door jarred her thoughts, and she turned around to see Falco leaning against the doorway. She sighed and hung her head over the sink with her hands supporting her weight on the edges.

"You alright?" the blue avian asked quietly. There wasn't an immediate response as Zoe just stood over the sink with her eyes closed.

After some time, she said, "Yeah…I'm fine. Maybe I'm just overreacting a bit. That guy just…I don't know…really got to me…"

Falco walked quietly over to stand behind her. "But you made it out unscathed. You're stronger than you think."

She still didn't move from her stance over the sink. "Everyone always tells me that. I think I'm the only one who doesn't agree."

The taller avian was a bit taken aback. "What do you mean?"

She sighed before saying, "Sure, I killed an armed man after he caught me off guard. But that's not what strength is all about. If I was as strong as you thought, I don't think I'd be breaking down in the bathroom right now."

Falco stood there in silence, not entirely sure what to say. Trying to offer some sort of solace, he gently put his hands on her shoulder. "Listen," he said after a moment, "I'll be there with you the whole time. I'm your 'bodyguard' remember?"

She grimly replied, "Yeah, but what if they kill you too?" She turned around to face him, tears forming in her eyes. Falco was got off guard at the sudden emotion. He didn't even react when she suddenly hugged him and pressed the side of her face into his chest. His only reaction was to press his hands to her back in attempt to ease out the sudden emotion.

The blue avian said softly, "Listen…nothing's going to happen to me. I can take care of myself. And so can you, but I'll be at your back to take on whatever comes at you."

Zoe broke the hug, rubbing the back of her hand into one of her eyes. "Yeah…" she started as she walked out of the bathroom, "But I'm not sure what I'd do if something bad happened. Especially to you."

Falco was left to stand in the bathroom alone, listening to her quiet footsteps taper off. He thought to himself, _"Especially me? That was…weird…'_


	16. Chapter 16

"Are sure this is a good idea?" Falco asked, keeping his eyes constantly on the surroundings.

"No…not even a bit…" answered Zoe, putting her hands in the pockets of her black trench coat.

The two walked along the pier landing, the night silence only being broken by the water lapping against the concrete. Although Falco was sure their being here was hardly a spur of the moment thing, it felt that way to him. Just a few hours ago, Zoe told him that she needed him to come with her to this place, and she made sure that he had his knife on him.

"What changed your mind?" the blue avian asked, not expecting a straightforward answer.

Zoe's eyes shifted to the ground for a moment, watching her feet move along the pavement as she thought to herself for a while. "I'm not really sure..."

Falco looked over at her, expecting to meet her gaze but only seeing her continue to stare at the ground.

He said, "Well you were pretty upset at Wolf the other day. Something must've made you decide to go through with this."

Her mouth hung open for a moment as her words were caught in her throat. "I guess I just want it to be over…"

The blue avian wasn't sure he understood, but this wasn't the time or place for such a conversation. He could barely see the ground in front of him in the blackness. His sense of direction was already lost walking amongst the dark warehouses. Zoe was silent the entire time, only adding to the eeriness of the entire situation.

Eventually she turned in between two of the warehouses into a narrow alley. It was barely wide enough for them to walk side-by-side, so Falco hung back slightly. After walking a short distance into the alley, Zoe stopped and turned to face him.

She softly spoke, "Listen…I have no idea what's going to happen here. I need you to have my back. These guys are probably expecting Jean-Pierre to be here. Or they won't be here at all. But if they are, they probably won't be happy to see me."

After a short moment, Falco rubbed his hand across his mouth nervously. "Ok…I got it. I'm guessing I should keep my mouth shut too."

Zoe turned around to face the steel door several yards away. "Yeah…probably." She sighed, still looking to the door. "This is bullshit…" the avian said while shaking her head, "How the fuck did I get into this?"

Falco rubbed his neck and replied, "Well…you got in close with a dealer who got capped, so…"

She turned back around and shot him a livid glance. "It was rhetorical. Don't remind me."

He just looked back at her passively until her expression softened. "Sorry…just trying to help."

The black avian sighed. "Yeah…just be ready to show off those knife skills of yours. That'll help."

There was a brief moment of tension as they locked gazes in the dark alleyway. After some time, Zoe shook her head and looked to the ground before turning back to face the door. "Let's get this over with."

She walked silently down the alley with Falco close behind, heart racing faster and faster as she approached the door. Once she was in front of it, Zoe steeled her nerves, took a deep breath, and knocked twice on the door, just like Jean-Pierre had before. They could both hear the footsteps approaching, and the knot in her stomach grew thicker with each one.

They heard a booming voice behind the door, "Who's that?"

Not knowing what else to do but replicate the other night she was here, Zoe replied, "It's me. I'm here for the pickup."

She heard a muffled, "Who the fuck…" before the locks on the door clanged together and the heavy door slowly swung open.

The huge German Sheppard from before stared down Zoe in a much more intimidating fashion than he had previously, still wearing sunglasses over his eyes despite the darkness. He immediately asked, "Where's Jean-Pierre? Why are you here?"

She looked him dead in the eye, offsetting her nerves, and answered, "He's dead."

The canine scoffed in reply. "What do you mean he's dead?"

"He's fucking dead."

There was a tense pause as the two stared each other down, waiting for the other to break. The German Sheppard eventually said, "How do you know that?"

"I watched him get murdered."

There was another short pause before the large thug angrily asked, "Who killed him?"

Expression still unwavering, Zoe answered, "I don't know, some tiger guy. He said he was another dealer."

The guard folded his arms. "What's that supposed to mean? Some tiger guy?"

She shrugged and simply said, "How should I know? I got the hell out of there as fast as I could. Didn't stick around to ask his name."

"Did he see you?"

Zoe exhaled, sensing the canine's aggression towards her subside a bit. "No, I don't think so. Probably be dead if he did…"

Silence filled the air as the German Sheppard thought. He was clearly lost in his own world until he suddenly turned to face Falco, evidently only just noticing his presence off to the side.

His demeanor suddenly changed as he half-shouted, "Who the fuck is this?"

The black avian stepped in between the two and faced the canine. "He's with me. I didn't want to come alone."

He started growling at her, fists clenching tighter as he spoke. "What the hell were you thinking? We didn't even want to bring you in so why the fuck would you think it's ok to bring someone else too?"

Zoe's mind raced, trying to formulate an appeasing response, but just as she was about to speak, she noticed another figure in the doorway. Before she could even acknowledge him, he spoke.

"What's going on out here?" she heard in a French accent coming from the door. She turned to see the black and white-furred husky she had met earlier. The German Sheppard turned around to face him, trying to keep his voice down.

"Apparently Jean is dead."

The husky's eyes widened a bit at his words before pinching the bridge of his nose in aggravation. He sighed and shook his head before pulling a box of cigarettes out of his pocket.

While he was patting his pockets for a lighter, the taller canine said to him, "You…don't seem very surprised."

He lit the cigarette in his mouth before blowing a plume of smoke to the side and saying, "Well…it makes sense. The car wasn't at his office this week. Boss didn't get an invoice either. Some of the other guys told us they've had new surges of clients. I believe it."

The German Sheppard turned to look at the black avian behind him, then turned back around and made no effort to find his voice as he said, "How do we know she didn't do it? How can we trust her?"

The husky took a drag from his cigarette as he glanced over at her. "Well…maybe it's a good thing if she did."

"What? Why would that be a good thing?" the tall canine confusedly asked.

"Look at it this way. If she killed him, then she'd be in the perfect position to take over his cut. He already introduced her, so with him out of the picture, she'd be in the perfect position to take over. I can't say I'd do the same, but I get it. And besides, that'd mean she's perfect to work with us. She's ruthless. You have to be ruthless to be in this chain."

The gargantuan canine folded his arms and asked, "You sure about this?"

The husky shrugged. "What else can we do? We either explain to the boss how we've lost a section of the city, or we take her on and roll with it. Can't say I'm overly excited about it, but hell…it's our best option."

The German Sheppard rubbed his chin a bit. "Well…it's your call. But I still don't think we can trust her."

The shorter thug laughed as he drew his cigarette close to his lips. "You don't trust anyone. That's why I like you." He pat the big canine on the arm as he walked past him and towards Zoe.

She watched as the husky imposingly walked towards her as he locked eyes while simultaneously taking a drag from his cigarette. The canine stopped in front of her, and there was a long pause while neither said anything. They both just stared each other down.

"So I hear Jean-Pierre is dead," he said nonchalantly.

Zoe just nodded in response as she crossed her arms. The canine in front of her broke his stare to look over her shoulder at Falco. "Who's he?"

The black avian looked over his shoulder in return at the much larger German Sheppard. She gave an acknowledging nod and asked, "Who's he?"

The husky turned around to look at his partner who was now leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. "He's the muscle so to speak. Shouldn't you have guessed that by now?"

Zoe pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Falco. "That's what he is too. Shouldn't you have guessed that by now?"

The canine just looked at her for a moment before he began to chuckle to himself. He took a last drag of his cigarette before tossing it down the alley. "So you're a smartass. Wonderful," He said sarcastically as he eyed up the blue avian for a moment before bluntly stating, "Doesn't look like much. Don't you think it's a good idea to have someone maybe a little more threatening like my friend here?"

She smiled a bit and retorted, "That's the idea. He may not look like much, but trust me, he'll fuck you up if he has to."

He stared into her eyes again, trying to find any sign of weakness. He just shrugged after a while and said, "Whatever. It's not my payroll."

The canine rubbed his chin a bit as Zoe's smile faded back to a stern expression. He said, "Alright…let's talk about business."

"Let's," she replied while folding her arms again.

"How much did you learn from Jean before what happened?"

"Enough. I only went to the club with him once, but all his customers seemed to like me. Most of them were guys, so you figure it out."

He just nodded as he stared off into space. Zoe just stared as him as he lost himself in thought. After some time, he looked back at her and said, "Listen…I have to run this by some people. We can't just bring you in on a whim like this. I'm sure you understand."

She nodded softly. He continued, "If it all goes my way, I'll just end up giving you the same supply I gave to Jean, seeing how your customers are the same."

He fumbled around in his pockets for a moment. "This isn't the place for this discussion. It'll be a while," the husky said while he handed her a cell phone. "Put your number in that. I'll call you once I talk to some people and we agree to bring you in."

Zoe began typing away on the phone as the canine continued, "I don't like talking business on the phone. Too risky. I'll give you a place and a time to meet with me, and we'll talk there."

She handed the phone back to him and said, "Alright…I'll wait to hear from you."

The husky nodded as he pocketed his phone. "By the way, I don't think we ever officially met. You can call me Sebastien," he said, outstretching his hand.

"Zoe. It's a pleasure," the avian replied while taking his hand.

Once they broke the handshake, he turned around to walk towards the door that was now being held open by the German Sheppard. As he was walking through it, Sebastien suddenly stopped and turned around. "This time though," he said as he pointed to Falco, "He's not welcome." He gave Zoe a venomous glance. "If you don't come alone, it's over."

With that, the German Sheppard shut the door and they were gone, leaving Zoe to mull over his words in the cold alley.


	17. Chapter 17

Falco sat on the stoop of the townhouse. He had an elbow on one knee that supported his head, and the other hand swirled around a half empty, lukewarm beer. Sleep had not been kind to him lately as so many thoughts raced around his head. The cool, night air wafted by as he stared off into space.

He couldn't stop thinking about the other day after Zoe lost her temper. She reverted from rage to despair almost as fast as anyone he could remember. The severity of the situation was escalating quickly, and she was at the brunt of it all. But it wasn't even the looming, yet pertinent danger that had him worried. He replayed her words in his head over and over again.

"_I'm not sure what I'd do if something bad happened. Especially to you."_

The avian took another swig of beer as he replayed the scene in his head yet again. They'd not mentioned it to each other since, and he knew that it only came out from her fit of emotion that day.

He started thinking back to the night at the docks. It was hard to believe how quickly she'd risen in the chain of command. Maybe it was just lucky for the mission that Jean-Pierre was killed, but Sebastian seemed rather accepting of her for hardly knowing who she was. If the meeting later in the week went well, maybe their mission would be that much closer to over. There really was something to this sex appeal thing, he thought.

Just then, he heard the door of the townhouse opening behind him. Not expecting to run into anyone in the middle of the night, he turned with a quizzical look to find a gray canine with a cigarette in his mouth and a lighter in hand.

"What in the world are you doing up this late?" asked Wolf upon seeing the avian.

"Couldn't sleep," answered Falco before raising the bottle in his hand. "Figured I'd enjoy a drink or two in the meantime."

The canine chuckled a bit while lighting his cigarette. "You always kill a six pack by yourself when you can't sleep?"

The avian turned to look at the cardboard carrier next to him with a lone bottle, and four empty ones next to it. "Yeah…well…sue me."

"I couldn't care less how you drink," said Wolf while taking a seat next to the taller pilot, "Just don't make us have to ship you off to AA in the middle of this mission."

Falco turned to him with a look of mild disdain on his face. "I'm not a addict, alright? I just like to drink every now and again."

There was a long pause where the two just stared at each other in the night. Falco broke the stare by turning back to the street and taking another swig of his drink. The canine took a long drag from his cigarette before breaking the silence.

"So what's the matter?"

The avian turned to him with a harsher look than before. "Why do you think something's the matter?"

"People don't drink that much by themselves unless they have a problem. One of those problems is alcoholism. And I know you're not an alchie, so tell me what's on your mind."

Falco scoffed a bit before saying, "I'm just having a few beers, Wolf. Doesn't mean my life is in shambles."

"Didn't say it was. I've been around the block a bit more than you Lombardi. One thing you'll learn eventually is that people are basically all the same. Everyone has some sort of vice for when they've got problems." He held up his cigarette. "Here's mine. Some people use drugs, sex, maybe alcohol." He pointed to the empty bottles. "It's not always like that though. Some people shout a lot. Some people just bottle it up and pretend it's alright. Some people watch sad movies and eat whipped cream until it's all better. Panther usually just beats the shit out of our training equipment until he's exhausted. Everyone has an outlet."

The avian stared at the ground. "Alright, maybe the stress of this whole thing is just getting to me. I'm not used to this sort of thing. None of us are. I'm better at tactics from behind the controls of an Arwing. I'm not used to trying to infiltrate a fucking black market."

They sat in silence for a moment while Wolf puffed on his cigarette. "I'm not an idiot Lombardi." The avian's brow furrowed at his words. "I know you've been in this business enough to not let it get to you like that. You're better than that" He turned to face his blue-feathered rival. "Why won't you tell me what's really going on?"

Falco sighed. "Jesus, you don't let up, do you?"

"To be brutally honest, I don't give a shit about your problems. But I know what's going on, and I have to be concerned about it for this mission's well being."

The avian just stood blankly at the ground, seemingly ignoring Wolf's comments.

The canine continued, "You and Zoe got a thing going. Now how far it's gone, or how far it's going to go, I have no idea. But I know it's there. It's all over both of you, but especially her."

Wolf turned to look at the other pilot, but his gaze seemed to be focused on boring a hole in the stoop. "Look…I know you don't need my permission to date her. And seriously, our history doesn't lend itself to being all that kind."

Falco just sighed and broke his trance to take another swig of beer.

The older canine continued, "If you want to date her…fuckin' go for it. I feel like our teams are on better terms after this whole deal anyway. Doubt we'll be trying to kill each other ever again."

The avian replied, "Yeah, well, we'll see how long it takes to be on opposite sides again."

"That's not the point," Wolf retorted, "The point is that this mission is going to be a whole lot worse off if there's awkward, sexual tension between you two." Falco startled a bit at the remark. "You guys are the two main people in this thing, and we don't need this stuff going on between you."

The avian finally turned to look Wolf in the eye. The canine continued, "I'm serious. You guys are in trouble if you can't work together well. I want you to say something to her and get things going. The more this goes on, the worse it's going to get."

Falco watched as he finished off the last of his cigarette and flicked it into the street. The two just stared at one another for a moment before the avian sighed and said, "I give up. There's no getting around it with you."

Wolf laughed a bit. "There usually isn't."

Falco continued, "I don't know. I know you don't know much about my personal history, but my love life isn't anything to brag about."

"Yeah, I could've guessed by how kind you are to everyone."

The avian turned and furrowed his brow. "Yeah…well…I'm not sure if I want to jump into something right away. I feel like I should have my life together before sharing the burden with another person."

Wolf answered, "Bullshit."

Falco's expression deepened in anger. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I said that's bullshit. You're not really concerned with burdening someone else. You're just afraid to pursue anything because you know that you come off as an arrogant, cynical son of a bitch."

The avian turned his entire body to face Wolf before half-shouting, "Who the fuck do you think you are to say shit like that? You don't know me at all! I'm pretty sure we've never had a real conversation before about two months ago in the board room where we all just swore at each other!"

Wolf just smiled and shook his head. "I don't have to know you like that to tell. It's all over you Lombardi. Maybe it's because you've really had some awful relationships in the past, but you're afraid of something. No one just decides to stop chasing love because they're tired of it. It's just not natural."

"You don't know everything Wolf," Falco continued on in a rage, "You can't sit here and tell me how I'm feeling because you just don't know. I'm the only one who knows what I've been through, I'm the only one who knows what I want, and I'm the only one who knows how I really feel about all of this! If you're going to sit here and try and tell me that I'm wrong about myself, well you can just go ahead and fuck yourself."

"Tell me I'm wrong," the canine bluntly replied.

"What?"

"Tell me…I'm wrong…" he said again, but softer.

Falco's anger calmed into bewilderment, and they shared another silence, gazes locked. Wolf slowly began to form a smirk on his face.

"See…you can't," the canine softly said, "Because you know I'm right."

The words were lost in the avian's throat, and garbled in his mind. He just turned to face the street and took another swig of his beer.

Wolf leaned in and gently said, "Listen. I know I'm not the person you want to take advice from, but believe me when I tell you that there's really nothing wrong with being hurt. So long as you get over it one day."

Falco turned and said, "Will you just stop it? I don't give a shit what you have to say to me Wolf."

He huffed and stared straight ahead, avoiding the canine's gaze. But he continued anyway. "I don't know what happened to you that was so god awful that you ended up so cynical, but you know it's not worth being this bent out of shape about. It's easy to just say you don't feel like trying, but it's harder to actually deal with it."

Arms crossed, the avian continued to look ahead and said, "Where are you going with all of this? I didn't ask for your advice."

"I know. But I already told you," he said becoming more stern, "I want you to get over yourself, and fucking make a move on Zoe to get rid of all this weird tension between you two."

Falco just sat there and stared off into space. Wolf looked at him for a moment before standing up and saying, "I guess you're done talking." He walked back up to the door of the house, where he stopped and said, "Please take what I said seriously. I don't like you, and you don't like me. Even if you don't care about the mission, or me, do it for her sake. You know she's never had something like this, and she likes you a lot, really. Just talk to her."

With that, the canine was through the door and back inside. The avian just sat there, mulling over what just happened. As much as he hated to admit it, Wolf had a point. Maybe there really wasn't any reason to shut himself off. Maybe there really was something between them.

He reached over and grabbed the last beer from the package, twisting the cap off. As he tipped his head back to deeply drink from the bottle, he looked up to the night sky.

"_This shit isn't what I signed up for…"_


	18. Chapter 18

Zoe sipped from her small, porcelain coffee cup as she slowly scanned the café. Couples and business partners casually chatted around her in the quaint bistro. She tried her best to steel her nerves, but the wait wasn't helping. The clock behind the counter directly in front of her did nothing but slow down every time she looked at it. The avian propped her elbow on the table to rest her head, bringing her coat sleeve closer to her mouth.

"He's late."

A soft static sounded in her ear before a voice rang in. "He was late the last time you said that. Just calm yourself."

She sighed before whispering, "I know, Panther. Just talk to me to pass the time."

"I'm a little busy people watching up here. Sorry, but I need to keep my focus."

Zoe glanced up through the window at the rooftops across the street. She scanned them while being careful not to stare. "Seriously, where are you? I'd feel better knowing where you are up there."

She heard him sigh over the mic. "I'm supposed to be hard to find. If everyone saw some guy sitting up here with a sniper rifle, we'd be busted faster than anything. Have the two lovebirds keep you company and just ignore me."

"Thanks Panther," Krystal blurted over the same transmission, "You're too sweet." She sighed before saying, "You want us to talk to you while you wait, Zoe?"

"Please. Stewing here until he shows up is just making me more nervous."

"There's nothing to be nervous about," the vixen softly replied, "Fox and I will be here the whole time." Zoe turned her head slightly over her shoulder to see the two sitting at a table in the corner behind her. Krystal smiled quickly before the avian turned back around.

Zoe moved her sleeve back up to her lips. "I just wish you guys weren't behind me though."

Fox chimed in, "Well, it's just so you're not tempted to keep looking at us. We'll have an eye on you the whole time."

She checked the clock again to discover that hardly a minute had passed by. As her nerves began to set in a bit more, Panther came over the mic.

"What's the guy that I'm supposed to be looking for look like again?"

"Husky, black and white fur."

After a pause, the feline continued, "Right. I think he's might be coming in now. Front door."

Fox said, "There's only one door you stupid-"

"Shut up, shut up," Zoe interrupted. As soon as she'd finished her words, she saw the person that Panther had marked walking through the door and up to the counter. He had on a sweatshirt with the hood drawn over his head, leaving only his muzzle visible. She said, "I…I can't tell if it's him. I can't see his face."

Krystal said, "Don't stare. If it's him, he'll come over to you. Don't look so anxious."

"I'm just not-"

"Another guy," Panther said, "Walking up to the door right now."

As soon as she looked, Zoe saw the figure walking through the door, eyes fixating on her immediately. Sebastien was wearing a dark oxford shirt that was unbuttoned slightly at the top. He had a dark, crisp blazer over top of his shirt that fit him well. Once Zoe recognized the figure approaching her, she reached up to rub the corner of her eye.

"That's the signal," Krystal said, "Everyone on your mark."

The husky sat down opposite the avian without a word. His eyes carefully scanned the room on all sides before he finally made eye contact with Zoe. "Thank you for meeting me."

She nodded in return, picking up the coffee cup to bring to her lips. Fox's voice sounded in her ear, "Don't touch the coffee. Your hand is shaking."

She set down the cup, making a slight rattling sound on the saucer. Sebastien looked to the cup before looking up to Zoe with a raised eyebrow and asking, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she replied, looking down at the cup in front of her, "Coffee's just a bit stronger than I thought."

She stared at the cup for a moment, before looking up to meet the husky's skeptical expression. They shared a moment of silence before he leaned in and folded his hands on the table.

"I'm going to be blunt here," he said, "My boss doesn't want be to bring you in."

They shared another moment of awkwardness while Zoe waited for him to continue. When he didn't she replied, "Well you're here to meet me…so obviously you don't agree."

"Quite right. Unfortunately I can't go above him though. But I think he's missing a good opportunity with you." The avian cocked her head a bit as he continued. "What Jean said when we were last in the warehouse really struck a chord with me. Your…sex appeal is really something we can use, and his sales did seem to rise a bit in the one week you were with him."

"Glad to hear you think I did something right, I suppose."

He stared at her again in silence for a moment. "Yes…don't get so confident in yourself though. I was hardly able to spin that into being a reason to bring you on."

Zoe looked down for a moment, mouth hanging open. "So you're here to find a reason to sell me to your boss, right?"

"There's something I need to address with you before that, however," Sebastien said, suddenly becoming more stern.

They stared at each other for a moment again before he spoke. "I run checks on everyone I work with to make sure they're who they say they are. Very…thorough checks. I couldn't find a trace of you anywhere."

There was another long pause where Zoe could feel her heart start to race. He continued, "There is no trace of a Zoe Snyder anywhere in this system, at least not of your species. How do you explain that to me?"

As her mind raced for an answer, Panther's said over the mic, "Oh shit you gave him your real name…"

Fox answered, "Not helpful Panther. Uhh…shit shit…tell him you just moved here."

Zoe quickly said, "I just moved here. I…uh…haven't been in the area long at all."

"Even still, you should show up somewhere. I couldn't find a match for you anywhere."

There was another silence as her mind raced. She could almost hear everyone else silently panicking in her ear. Krystal said, "Shit…tell him it's spelled differently? I don't know, anything to bide time."

Zoe blurted out, "That's because you didn't look under the right name."

The husky cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

She continued, "I moved here under an alias. Zoe Snyder has only existed for a few months. I…didn't want anyone to find me here."

Sebastien raised his eyebrows. "Really now…you're going to have to explain that to me."

"That's none of your business."

His eyebrows suddenly furrowed and his tone changed. "Listen…I don't work with people I don't know. If you're going to keep secrets from me, then you can just forget about trying to work for me. I can find someone else very easily."

She sighed. "It's not something I talk about freely. There's a lot at risk, like my life. I don't just tell people about it because they ask."

"Fine," he said, moving to get up from the table, "Then forget it."

Zoe quickly put up a hand. "Wait." The husky froze, sinking back into his chair slowly. She sighed before putting on an angry expression and pointing at him. "But I swear to god, if this ever gets to anyone, I will bring your whole operation down faster than you can blink."

He shrugged. "Noted."

There was a bit of silence while Zoe collected her thoughts. "My name is actually Amelia Norris. I'm a fugitive from Lylat."

The husky's eyebrows shot up as she continued. "I was part of an enormous drug ring in the system, probably the biggest. I was a dealer on Corneria, and one of the most successful ones from all of the people in the ring."

"Really now," he chuckled a bit, "What did you run?"

"Coke. That's all we sold. I sold to the city's elite because it was their drug of choice. I worked out of clubs mostly, and often huge house parties. It was great. I got to party hard every day and make more money than I could imagine while doing it. But it all came crashing down when someone on the high end of the cartel got cut out. He flipped a shit, to put it politely. He turned everyone into the police and didn't care how much time he got by confessing, and he didn't care how likely it was that someone would kill him for it. All he wanted was to crash the whole operation."

She took a moment to pause and look out the window. "It worked. The whole thing crashed. Everyone I knew was getting arrested left and right. I didn't know what else to do, so I took all of the money I had, which was a lot, and ran before they could get to me. I came here with a new name to start a new life. I'd probably be in jail for the rest of my life if I were caught, so that's why no one knows. I started an investment firm because I didn't know what else to do with that much money."

There was a long pause while Zoe stared at the table. Sebastien broke the silence, "So…should I call you Amelia?"

"No, don't. No one can know that name here. Lylat would hunt me down."

"I see…and what did you do for this ring again?"

"I dealt. I hosted parties, rented out back rooms of clubs. I had huge coke parties to get people hooked on the stuff so they'd buy."

There was another long pause as Sebastien was clearly thinking. Zoe sipped her coffee, bringing the cup down to the saucer with a slight clank.

Fox said over the radio, "I told you not-"

"Shh!" Panther cut him off. "She's got this. Let her concentrate. You're making it worse."

After a long while of mulling, the husky finally said, "So if I search Amelia Norris in the Lylat System, I'll find your record?"

"Yes I suppose…but is that really necessary? I don't want to bring any attention at all to me while I'm here."

"But a simple search shouldn't-"

Zoe's voice intensified a bit. "You know as well as I do that they'll start asking you questions if you search for someone as wanted as I am. Lylat has been searching for me like crazy. Apparently I'm the only one they didn't catch. I'm definitely flagged and anyone running a check on me would have people at their door so ridiculously fast asking questions. Do you want that to happen?"

"I suppose not. And don't ever interrupt me again."

"Sorry…"

The husky asked, "So I'm supposed to just take your word for it?"

"I guess that's all you really can do. Just trust me."

They stared at each other for a moment before he said, "One last thing…if you're trying to keep your heat down, why would you want to get involved in dealing again? Wouldn't that risk your identity being blown?"

Zoe folded her hands on the table. "That investment firm I started? It hasn't done shit for me. I'm not a businesswoman, Sebastien. Dealing is what I'm good at. And to be honest…I miss it. I miss the money. There's really no faster way to get paid. I'm just lucky that I fell into being Jean-Pierre's apprentice, really. I wouldn't have known what to do otherwise."

He stared at the table for a while. "Well…if what you're telling me is true, then that's more than enough of a reason to bring you on. My boss will like that you've dealt before."

The avian nodded in mild approval. Sebastien went to move up from the table. "I need to do some thinking about it."

"Thinking about what?" Zoe asked once the husky had fully stood up.

"Whether or not I can trust you."

There was a silence as he fixed the sleeves of his coat. "And I need talk it over with my boss again. Maybe this will sway him, but don't contact me asking questions. I'll let you know if we need to meet again, understand?"

She nodded and outstretched a hand. He looked at her for a moment before meeting her grasp and shaking hands. Without another word, he turned and walked out of the café.

As soon as he was out of sight down the street, she let out a huge sigh and sunk back into her chair. Panther's voice sounded in her hear, "That was excellent, Zoe. What an elaborate story."

Fox said, "Yeah, that lie was brilliant. Nice job."

She put her sleeve up to her lips. "Thanks guys. Just glad it's over for now."

* * *

Falco sat in the kitchen of the middle apartment that he and Zoe shared. It was just past midnight and everyone else had presumably gone to bed. He sat at the table with a bottle of beer, mulling over the conversation he and Wolf had the other night. The avian couldn't help but wonder how serious Wolf was about his words. Did he really think something serious was going on between them? Maybe Wolf knew something about Zoe that he didn't. After all, they've been teammates for some time. They have to have a relationship of some sort.

As he took another swig, he thought back to when he and Zoe first got to know each other. _Whenever I get close to someone, it just ends badly. I just don't want to bother with it anymore. Right now, I'm not ready to love again. I'm just not._ He knew it to be true, but he couldn't help but feel like he was connecting with Zoe on some level. Was his whole philosophy before just an excuse?

His thoughts were jarred by footsteps on the staircase on the other side of the wall. Wolf was a night owl, and so was Bernard, so it was probably them coming back from the bars or something. Falco finished off the last of his beer, and just as he set the bottle down on the table, he heard a few muffled voices coming from upstairs, then a crack followed by a thud on the floor. Unsure what to think, the avian sat silently and listened. He heard a chair scraping on the ground and something else being dragged across the floor.

Falco didn't like what he heard, so he quickly grabbed his sheathed knife from the kitchen counter, and left the room for the staircase. He made his way silently up the stairs to the apartment above him. The door was left open a crack, and he moved to the top stair to peer through it. The kitchen was dark, and his vision was limited even further by the narrow slit in the door. All he could see was Wolf sitting in a chair facing him, head lulled to the side and hands tied behind him. Just as Falco was about to open the door, a figure stepped in his field of vision, back facing the door. Judging from the tail, it was a dark-furred wolf.

A deep voice with a French accent came from the figure. "So they really weren't kidding," he said before laughing a bit, "Wolf O'Donnell really is back. Never thought I'd see you in these parts again."

The figure started to pace around the room, and Falco noticed two other figures off to either side of Wolf, both of them canines.

The dark wolf continued speaking, "I honestly thought you'd put up more of a fight than this. I'm a bit disappointed. Even years ago, you would've been more of a handful. Your instincts seem to have slipped though." He laughed again. "So tell me…what brings you back anyway? Are you just a glutton for more punishment?"

Wolf managed to sit up in the chair, and Falco noticed a trickle of blood coming over his shoulder, presumably from a gash on the back of his head. Wolf finally said, "I don't have anything to say to you."

"Aww, that's really a shame. We have so much to catch up on. How long has it been? Ten years? More? So much has happened since then, no?"

"Go fuck yourself."

The wolf laughed again. "Oh come now, that's how you greet me after all this time?" He laughed to himself as he walked back into the view of Falco. He continued, "Boys…give him the greeting I want to give."

Falco heard a soft chuckle before the unmistakable sound of knuckles meeting bone. His eyes widened as the barrage intensified. The wolf spoke again, "You don't fuck around with me and my men and get away with it."

As the assault continued, Falco cracked the door open until he could fit through the doorway. Staying low, he unsheathed his knife and crept silently towards the wolf standing in front of him. He could see the assault on Wolf happening as he inched forward. Stopping about a step behind the dark wolf, he stood up and found the wolf to be almost as tall as he was. In a split second, Falco had his left arm wrapped around the wolf's torso, and his right arm holding the knife to within millimeters of his throat.

The wolf didn't make a sound, so Falco shouted, "Everybody fucking freeze!"

All eyes turned to him, and the two thugs' fists stopped in midair. Their eyes were wide open as they watched Falco press the knife closer to the canine's throat. The avian spoke again, "You guys get the fuck out of my house, or I'm gonna cut his throat so deep you'll see through his fuckin' windpipe."

Before Falco knew it, one of the thugs had pulled a gun and pointed it right at him. He said, "Drop it asshole."

The avian eyed the guy up and down, and noticed his firm posture and unwavering eyes. Falco knew he wasn't going down easily. He said, "I'm not dropping shit until you get the fuck out of here."

The thug with the gun started to move towards Falco while saying, "Listen…"

"Don't!" the avian interrupted, pressing the blade to the wolf's throat. "Don't get any closer or I swear to god I'll slit his throat."

"Okay…" the thug said with a calm voice, "We're here cuz we got a score to settle with this guy," he said while motioning towards Wolf, "It's none of your business, so why don't you just turn around and stay out of it. Cool?" he said with a slight smile.

"No," Falco responded with a firm voice, "It's not fuckin' cool. You just bust in here, and fuck up my friend, and you're going to tell me it's cool? No, you guys need to get out of here right now!"

"Alright…why don't you just put the knife down and we'll sort this out," the thug said with an even bigger smile.

The avian scoffed, "What, you think I'm retarded? No, I'm putting down the knife until all of you are out of my house! If you don't leave now, then get ready to watch this guy's blood go everywhere."

Still not putting down the gun, the thug put his other hand up as a peace offering. "Alright, just let him go, and we'll leave alright?"

Falco furrowed his brow. "You think I'm an idiot, don't you? No, I'm not letting go until you guys are out the front door, alright? So start moving, or I'll start slicing. I'm not playin' around."

The thug smiled again. "You and I both know you're not going to do that. So just calm down, and let him go, okay?"

The avian smiled in return and said, "Really? You think?" After a pause, the dark wolf's eyes shot open and his hands started clawing at Falco's hand.

The wolf started screaming as blood slowly trickled down the blade at his throat. "He's cutting me! He's fuckin' cutting me!"

The thug's eyes widened as he pointed the gum right at Falco's smiling face. He said, "Drop him or I'll fucking shoot!"

"Really?" Falco said before laughing, "Think you're that good of a shot? Think you can hit me without hurting your guy here?" The thug didn't have a response, and simply grunted. After a long standoff, he finally lowered the gun and shoved it in the back of his pants.

"Fine," he said, "But if you think this is the last you'll see of us, you're sadly mistaking." He turned to the other thug who had yet to move from his spot. "Let's go. This guy's crazy," he said before turning his attention to Wolf, "We'll deal with him later."

They went to move down the stairs, and Falco followed a distance behind with his knife still at the dark wolf's throat. Once the two thugs were down the stoop, the avian threw the wolf down the steps, rolling him onto the sidewalk.

Once the two thugs helped him up, the wolf grabbed at his throat and stared viciously at Falco. Through heavy breaths, he said, "You're going to regret that."

Without a word, the avian slammed the front door. He heaved a sigh of relief before rushing back up the stairs. Once he was back in the kitchen of the top apartment, he looked at Wolf who was bloodied and bruised, still tied to the chair. He too was breathing heavily, and the two shared a moment of eye contact before Falco dropped his knife to the ground with a loud metallic ringing. Wolf watched the knife settle on the floor before turning his attention back to Falco's calm, yet confused stare.

The avian broke the silence. "Wolf…who the fuck was that?"

The canine took a few breaths before saying, "Can you untie me please?"

Falco sighed and walked behind the chair. As he undid the knots, he asked, "Seriously, what the hell just happened?"

"Don't worry about it Lombardi. It's nothing you have to worry about."

After the knots were undone and Wolf stood up, Falco said, "What do you mean I don't have to worry about it? Were they trying to kill you?"

The canine rubbed his wrists as he walked to the bedroom door. "I told you not to worry about it. Stay out of it."

Falco followed him to the door. "I can't just not worry about that! What were they going to do if I didn't show up?"

Wolf turned in the doorway and calmly said, "I appreciate the help. But seriously, it doesn't involve you." As Falco opened his mouth to retort, the canine slammed the door in his face. Falco stood there, hands covered in blood, and now suddenly afraid for his life.


End file.
